The Team
by Agents Are Us
Summary: Based on a prompt by PansycakeInTheTardis. Hunter and Bobbi have a child. When she is all grown up, she joins SHIELD against her parent's wishes and is put on Coulson's team. Will her parents find out? Will Bobbi really kill Hunter? Does Skye like her back? And what will happen next? NOW COMPLETE.
1. The Team

**1\. Based off prompt by PansycakeInTheTardis- "Bobbi and Hunter have a child and train him/her. He/She eventually joins shield without them knowing and gets put on Coulson's team."**

 **Disclamer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

Alice Morse-Hunter was ready for this. She had been training practically since she was in the womb. Well, her mother had been training. Alice herself had not started fighting technique until a couple months after she could walk. World languages had started even before that.

From there it was martial arts at age four, hand to hand combat at seven. Alice had shot her first handgun when she was six, hitting the target right in the center on her ninth attempt.

She had attended regular school in some places, home school in others- either way she excelled in all subjects. For a while, she considered being a scientist instead of a field agent.

Alice's upbringing was not only differing from the norm in the content she was taught, but the locations as well. Wherever SHIELD sent her mother, Alice and (usually) Hunter followed. Some of the placements stood out in her mind. Paris, Budapest, Washington DC. Others, Alice only vaguely remembered. Alaska for a week and a half, some small town in Ohio for less. There had been a couple of days in Florida when she was five, but all she remembered was her Uncle Mack taking her out the side door of Peter Pan while her mother hit 'bad guys' with her batons.

The week after that, in London, Alice had picked up her first pair of the death sticks.

They felt amazingly right in her hands. Just the right balance and weight, powerful but not overdoing it. As soon as she lifted them in her hands, Alice knew she was going to be just like her mother one day.

She had told Morse that later, expecting her to be proud or happy. Instead, Bobbi is filled with a sudden flare of white-hot anger. "No. You're not going to be an agent."

Hunter and Mack look up from the engine they are looking at. "Bobbi..." Lance starts worriedly.

Alice is at a complete loss. "Why not?"

"Because I want you to be safe!"

With that, the conversation is over.

In her head, however, Alice vows that she will be a field agent someday, with or without her parent's approval.

* * *

And now she was. At the age of nineteen and fresh out of the Academy, Alice was one of the most over-qualified agents SHIELD had ever trained, not to mention one of the youngest. Yet the only people within the agency who knew who she really was were Fury, Coulson and May.

Like her mother, Alice's choice weapon were batons. She had a degree in biology, and was thinking about getting her Ph. D sometime in the future.

Unlike her mother, she had never had a job in the field before. Alice looked different as well, though only because of the colored contacts she wore to turn her blue eyes brown and the copious amounts of dye that changed her blonde hair almost black. Makeup took care of the rest, though it could do nothing to change the fact that she was 5'10 and was fluent in nineteen languages- twenty if you counted witty snark.

Also diverging from her mother was the fact that the Mockingbird had never worked with three people on this new team.

Coulson's team.

Alice wonders about her future as she walks up the ramp. FitzSimmons start arguing about the 'Night-Night Gun' (and why they were never going to call it that). Agent Grant Ward is in front of her, wearing the traditional- and slightly sexist- SHIELD suit.

Ward lets go of his duffle bag, letting it drop to the floor with a thump. The Agent does not seem very happy to be there. "FitzSimmons." The distain is almost tangible.

The female points to her partner. "Fitz-"

"-Simmons," the man points back at her. "I'm engineering, she's biochem. Agent… Ward?"

There is no answer, just an order. Probably about his COM receiver. Coulson had told her to get it encoded right away.

FitzSimmons turn on her next. "Agent Jones?" Alice nods. She had taken a different last name to keep her parents off of her trail. Fitz takes their receivers and smashes them quickly, extracting two chips from the wreckage.

Based on Ward's reaction, he did not know they did not need the external receiver anymore. Really, Alice is kind of happy because the look on his face when Simmons embeds the sensor in his mouth is priceless.

"It's quite posh," Simmons adds after placing the sensor in both of their mouths. "So, are you two exited to be coming on our journey into mystery?"

"Like Christmas," Ward responds dryly.

"It's going to be fun," Alice says. And she actually thought it. This was the nicest BUS she had ever seen and the group- excluding Ward- seemed okay. Simmons was definitely happy, and she guessed Fitz would be once he stopped sulking.

Before Ward can make another comment, a bright red car pulled up. It was in amazing condition, especially for that old a model. Fitz says something about collectibles, but Alice is much more concerned with watching this play out.

Having grown up in SHIELD, she knew exactly how crazy Coulson was about his car. And he does not disappoint. "Don't touch Lola," he snaps at the first person who walks within a ten foot radius of the red vehicle.

Then, when they are climbing the stairs, he still feels the need to defend her. "Lola's not just a collectible, you know. People tend to confuse the words new and improved."

Alice is brought back to five minutes earlier, when Ward was acting like an ass because Fitz smashed his new COM receiver. Karma always gets her.

While she was thinking, the men continue talking. Alice tunes back in just as Coulson says "That was a joke."

May comes in from the cockpit. "If you plan to unpack, make it quick. Wheels up in five. We may have a hit on one of the Rising Tide's routing points."

"Good," Coulson responds. "We need to do some catching up."

Alice looks surreptitiously at Ward, wondering if he picked up on who May was.

"Is that… who I think it is?' he asks, kind of dazed, which Alice understands. She felt the same way after meeting the Cavalry for the first time.

"She's just the pilot," Coulson responds offhandedly, throwing Alice a quick glance. It takes her a moment to remember that he knew that she knew who May was.

In that moment, Ward continues his intellectual attack. "Melinda May is _just_ the pilot. Come on, sir. What game are you really playing?"

"Best if both of you stow your gear," Coulson ignores him and leaves.

* * *

 **Next chapter should be up in a couple minutes.**

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	2. The Hacktivist

**1\. Thank you to Pansycakeinthetardis for the idea and anyone who reads**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Alice wonders what Ward's deal is as they approach the van. He sure acts like an agent, but his social skills are deplorable. It's like he legitimately does not want to be there, yet does not seem like that is the case at the same time.

All she knows is there is something very off about Grant Ward.

The young agent has to stop this train of thought as they initiate the black bag procedure on the hacker. 'Skye' cannot be much older than see is, though she certainly wears a lot more flannel.

Ward and Coulson head the interrogation on Skye while Alice watches from the corner. It's a lot of the same Big Brother type comments, although she does have to let out a small chuckle when Skye mutters the bit about cosplaying that "one time".

"Ward," Coulson calls him out of the room firmly. He gives Alice a 'don't even think about blowing this' look and leaves with the other agent briefly.

"So… you new or something?" Skye asks with the air of someone who is covertly trying to gather intel for the first time. And failing.

Alice shrugs. "It's a new group."

"And I'm your first. Sweet."

"If you say so."

* * *

"This," Coulson holds a small orange-ish vial up to the light, "Is QMBT16."

"In other words, truth serum," Alice clarifies. "But don't worry, it only lasts for an hour."

"Then you'll have a nice nap, and we'll have all the answers we-" Ward, Alice and Skye all look on, surprised, as Coulson shoots Ward in the arm with the drug. "Ow! What the hell," he hisses in Coulson's direction, clutching his arm.

"I'm sorry, did that hurt?" the older agent asks, deadpan.

"No!" Ward answers fiercely. "You've lost your mind. You should never do that to a member of your team and yes… it did hurt a little bit. But I always try to mask my pain in front of beautiful women," he looks pointedly at Skye, then Alice, then Skye again, "Because I think it makes me more masculine. My god this stuff works fast." Ward sits down as Alice and Coulson both fight to keep the grins off of their faces. Skye just looks baffled.

"Still don't trust us?" Coulson asks her. "Ask him whatever you'd like."

Ward looks on indignantly. "Wait a minute! You can't just…"

Coulson and Alice leave.

"This is definitely not protocol!" Ward shouts at the closing door.

* * *

Later that night, they let Skye and Ward out of their interrogation. Coulson brings Skye straight to the debriefing room, where Alice is already standing.

"I'll leave, sir," she says quickly, realizing he probably wants to talk to Skye alone.

"No, Agent Alice. You can stay. It might pay off to have someone with your experience."

Alice turns, hand on the doorknob and joins them at the table.

"So Skye, what did Ward tell you?" Coulson asks casually. Alice immediately knows where he is going with this, though she does not like it.

"He's been to Paris, but really wants to go to Tahiti."

"It's a magical place," Coulson replies almost immediately.

Skye looks around as he says it, taking everything in. "Ward doesn't like your style… kinda think I do." She smiles a little.

Coulson gets serious very quickly. "How about his?" Alice taps the table a few times on que and the news pops up on one of the screens. Michael Peterson destroying a factory, to be exact.

Skye's eyes widen in understanding, though she seems completely taken aback. "This is wrong… he's not… the guy I met. He was… He just needs a break."

"Then give him one," Alice offers, playing good cop apparently.

* * *

The rest of the team gathers in the debriefing room next- minus Ward. He was still recovering from the truth serum, it seemed.

Coulson informs them on Mike's life while Skye watches from the sidelines. She seems to be fascinated with how the whole team operated together.

And when FitzSimmons hits a wall, she jumps in to help. Alice is staring to doubt how much she is really dedicated to the Rising Tide.

"Your van's here, but you were right that we couldn't decrypt the files," Coulson informs her.

"The encryption is connected to the GPS. Get my van back to the alley and I'm in business." Skye walks out of the room.

"Agent Alice will escort you. And, on your way out, wake up Ward," he orders.

Alice drives but, even so, Skye seems completely at ease to be in her van again. "So… how long have you been in the field?" the hacker asks her.

"This is my first assignment."

"So I really am your first."

"In a way."

They fall into silence. The only sounds are that of the van driving on the deserted roads, then of Skye setting up her computer.

"I sent the audio file but it's not compressed so it'll wake a minute," she tells Fitz through the phone. Alice cannot hear the response from out in the alley, but it seems like the scientist had gotten nervous because Skye gives her phone a weird look.

And Alice pretends not to notice when Skye takes a computer chip and puts it in her bra.

Probably because, at the same time, she is getting thrown against a wall by a super soldier. The words are fuzzy, but the agent can hear the sound of the van driving away as she goes unconscious.

* * *

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	3. The Train Station (and Lola)

**1\. Thank you to PansycakeInTheTardis and everyone who reads/favs/follows/reviews**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

When Alice wakes up about six hours later, with a persistent ringing in her ears and a pounding headache, the sun has come up. She calls Coulson and the team immediately, making her way out of the alley. "Mike took Skye." She hisses as she says it, a flare of pain shooting up her leg.

Coulson does not miss a beat. "Are you okay?" Underneath is the other question, 'Do I have to tell your parents that you got hurt on your first mission? Because, your mother will kill me. And possibly you.'

"I'm fine, sir. We need to find them." Alice just cannot believe how bad things had gotten in a matter of minutes. She likes Skye, even though she had only met her a day ago.

"Skye sent us longitudes and latitudes. They're at the train station. The rest of the team is headed there now."

Coulson hangs up and Alice starts running.

* * *

After catching a ride in a police cruiser, Alice gets there right after Skye kicks a guy… where guys do not want to be kicked. "You're right, he _is_ a little bitch!"

The fight that ensues is basically Mike throwing people around the train station. Then one of the poor bastards tries hitting him over the head with a metal pole. Not a good idea. The crunch when he hits the floor is so loud Alice actually feels sorry for him.

She and the rest of the team know better than to try fighting him. Coulson had ordered the local law enforcement not to fire, but of course some jackass does anyway. "I think we have a third party," Alice says into her COM, getting behind a barrier. She watches as Mike pulls Skye toward an entrance, kicking the door in.

The guy starts shooting at Mike again, only narrowly missing Skye's arm. "Alice… take care of him," May orders, assessing the situation.

"Gladly." Alice runs out from behind the wall. She takes the guy down easily; he barely even realizes she is coming at him until her fist is connecting with the side of his face. With a satisfying _Crack!_ she feels his nose break. So much for a pretty face. Another well- timed kick and he is out cold.

She runs to Skye next, who was thrown on the floor by Mike after the second gunshot. "Are you hit?" she asks, looking for blood.

"No, just bruised." She turns to Mike, who has jumped down onto a newsstand. "You can't hurt him! He has a son!" Skye is up, about to throw herself directly into the line of fire. Half of the crowd looks up, hearing her screaming.

"Shhhh. He'll be fine, just watch." They stand while Mike is nearing the end of his speech.

Then Coulson speaks, and all Alice can thing of are the giants she has seen. The things her family has done. Wondering if she will ever be able to live up to the legacy.

A shot rings in her ears. Or maybe that is Skye's shouting. Alice just smiles and points at Ward. He is not holding the riffle, but one of FitzSimmons' prototypes that was meant to stabilize the serum. They look down again, to where Jemma is smiling up and Fitz. The message is clear. It worked. He half- smiles, holding a thumb up and winking at her.

Skye is smiling, too, relieved that it all turned out fine. She looks to Coulson, who looks to Ward. Alice and the three others smile dumbly at each other for a second before getting back to the job.

May might smile, if that was the kind of thing she did. Instead she waves over the medical team and stands of to the side, blank expression fixed.

* * *

Skye, Coulson and Alice take Mike's kid to his aunt's house. Alice really only tags along because Coulson does not mind her driving shotgun in Lola and he thinks she might be able to persuade Skye to join up.

"He almost blew. We almost _died_ ," Skye realizes, walking away from the house.

Alice laughs. "We've been in situations like that before. You get used to it."

"I thought this was your first mission."

"Let's just say Alice here has been around the block… not officially, of course."

"Yeah, well, we didn't finish Centipede this time. Whoever funded that thing is still out there," Alice points out. "We've got a long way to go to catch these guys."

"Among other things," Coulson adds.

Skye walks along in her pink dress, so different from the standard SHIELD garments Alice and Coulson were wearing. "It's a brave new world. And a really old car."

"Lola can keep up," Alice informs her before Coulson can. "Just trust me." She jumps the door, sliding over to the center seat. "Oops. Sorry, sir," she says, seeing the look on his face.

"You know, that was much more endearing when you were nine," the agent says as he and Skye get in.

"I know. So… have you thought about the offer?" Alice asks, turning to Skye.

"Hitching a ride on the crazy plane? I'm not exactly a team player."

"Have you _seen_ Ward? We are definitely not a team."

"Yet. But we're in a position to do some good."

"Not to mention you'd have a front row seat to the craziest show on Earth. It's an awesome show, by the way. And you would be a help."

Skye looks doubtful. "I was able to hack SHIELD from my van… you're going to show me something new?"

Coulson and Alice smirk at each other. The older agent starts the engine, and Alice watches contently as an alarmed Skye looks over the edge of the car, seeing for herself that it was hovering the ground.

"I stand corrected," she breathes.

* * *

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	4. The Van

**1\. Thank you to everyone on the planet (just 'cause).**

 **2\. Text in italics are flashbacks. Unless it's just a stressed word or phrase. Basically, if it's a block of words in italics, it's a flashback.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agent's of SHIELD.**

* * *

Skye _does_ choose to stay with SHIELD. Alice has to admit it's nice to have someone else around her age on the BUS. Sure, there was FitzSimmons, but the scientists were so close that they finished each other's sentences. Getting in the middle of that would just be awkward.

At first, the team is somewhat cautious of the hacker. Truth be told, Alice was not exactly sure about her at first. But, after the train station and Lola, she had felt differently and helped Skye pack up her van.

"Nice place," Alice says, not sarcastically. She likes the van, with its cramped yet homey feel. The fact that it was painted bluish purple only added to her love of the vehicle, not to mention the functionality associated with its mobility.

Skye looks around sadly, as if to say goodbye to her hacktivist life. She perks up pretty quickly, though, humming as she throws random objects into a cardboard box.

Alice helps her pack her clothes, which seems to be a mass of different color flannel shirts and dark jeans. "Do you own anything that's _not_ flannel?" she asks.

"Um… I think there's a denim shirt in there somewhere."

"It's got flannel arms." Alice holds the piece up, showing her. She cannot keep the grin off of her face.

"Well, there's your answer, then," Skye answers, also smiling. Flannel was kind of her trademark. "Speaking of which… when were you planning to tell me your mom is a SHIELD agent and your dad is a mercenary?"

"Never," Alice sighs. "But your hacking skills and curiosity are both much greater than Fitz's, so I knew it would probably come up."

"The Mockingbird. Is she named after the chick from the Hunger Games?"

"More like Katniss was named after her," the agent discloses.

Skye looks intimidated. "Does she have mad bow-and-arrow skills, then?"

"No, she uses batons. That part was Hawkeye."

"Hawkeye? As in the Avenger? As in the Battle of New York?" Skye asks, looking for information as always.

"Yeah. Uncle Clint and Aunt Natasha. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to call them in a week. Something about making sure I'm not dead."

Skye just shakes her head. "And I thought _I_ had family problems."

* * *

The rest of the team eventually warms to the new hacker, even Ward. He even agrees to be Skye's S.O.. Though, Alice thinks he has ulterior motives on that front.

She does not blame him and tries to convince herself she is not jealous.

Alice does, however, let herself be envious of Skye's relationship with Miles. Truth be told, she is probably the only one on the team who is not majorly pissed at the hacker after that craziness. Probably because she understands better than anyone why a person would want to take a minute away from SHIELD. If you were not officially part of the organization, it was hard to give up on the outside world.

* * *

 _She recalls a conversation with her mother at the HUB, when Bobbi had be in between assignments. "Do you think I could go stay with grandma for a while?" her fourteen year old self had asked, playing with a lock of hair dyed purple. Even then, Alice was always looking for ways to differentiate herself from her mother._

 _"Why?" Bobbi had asked, surprised._

 _Alice fidgets in her seat, pushing the lock of her hair behind an ear and staring down at her hands. "I… I want to be normal for once. We're always living on the base or in some safe house. Most of the time I can't even use my real name. And when I do go to a real school, it's only for a couple of weeks before we have to leave again."_

 _Morse looked at her daughter thoughtfully. She knew it was true, but the agent had always tried to keep her daughter's life as stable as possible. Alice completed most of her school work online using her real name, just bouncing the signal across the country. When they were abroad, she tried to make it fun at least, taking Ali shopping or to some kind of attraction before they had to leave._

 _But it still stood that her daughter had never gotten to act like a normal teenager for more than a couple hours. There was always jobs, fights, training and codenames in the mix. There always would be. And if Morse was not there to look after her, who would be? "Ali," Bobbi had started, using her nickname, "I'm sorry you feel that way, but I don't feel comfortable letting you go off without any protection-"_

 _Alice stomped away._

* * *

In the present day, she relays that story with Skye. "So… I get it. And I'm not mad at you that you wanted to take a minute. Just thought you should know there was someone here on your side."

Skye nods sadly. FitzSimmons had forgiven her, even Coulson to an extent. May was just as stern as ever, maybe more so but it was hard to tell with the agent.

The real problem was with Ward.

Alice realizes that. "You know, he can't just quit being your S.O."

"I know," the hacker replies forlornly. "Whether or not he is going to hold it against me for the rest of my life is a different story. I can't believe I lied to you guys. It was so stupid."

"Ward's not angry because you lied. It's because he loves you and you sneaked off and May found you partially dressed with him in a bedroom." Alice shakes her head. People could be so blind sometimes.

Skye blushes slightly.

"And you love him too. Wow, this could be TV. I can see it now _Skye: Agent of SHIELD_."

The hacker throws a pillow at her. "Go dye your hair. Your roots are showing."

Alice sticks her tongue out at her and leaves, smiling at the sound of laughter. It's short-lived, but she feels it's enough to remind Skye they needed her.

Even shifty people named Ward.

* * *

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	5. The Specialist: Part 1

**1\. Thank you to** **Pansycakeinthetardis and everyone who r &r&f&fs**

 **2\. I'm going to try to update more consistently from now on, every Monday for this fic.**

 **Disclaimer: I own zilch.**

* * *

"What do you have against him?" Skye asks after their next case.

Alice tries to play dumb. "Who?"

"Ward."

"You did see him with the Berserker staff. He was out of control,' Alice points out.

"Yeah, most people are after touching the thing. It's designed to make people crazy psychopathic murderers."

Alice just shakes her head.

* * *

*ten hours previous*

"So these people were just found here, floating?" Skye asks, looking around the campsite.

"Yes." It is not a very green forest, and the trees are spaced far apart enough that visibility was not a huge issue, Alice notes. The dry leaves on the ground would cover a person's footprints, but would also alert a person that they were not alone in the woods. "What's the cause of death?" she asks, looking at the bodies.

FitzSimmons glance at each other. "Hell if we know."

"I'm guessing that's also the answer to my question: What kind of weapon could cause an effect like this?" Coulson says, approaching the figure.

"I'm sorry sir but, this kind of-"

"-effect has never been seen before."

"It could be someone on the Index," Skye suggests. She is literally standing on tip-toe to get a better look at the corpse.

Alice shakes her head, starring at the troop leader's body. "No one on the Index has a power like this," she says almost reverently.

"That we know of. I'll upload the specs to Blake at HQ, see if he knows anything."

Simmons take a step closer to the body, looking at something on the forehead. "He has the same entry wound patterns as we saw on the truck."

"So it's probably the same weapon?" Ward asks. He does not get an answer, because at that second the body plummets four feet to the ground.

" _Awesome_."

" _Freak-y._ "

" _Cool._ "

" _Epic._ "

Ward, Coulson and May look at each other, rolling their eyes at the younger agents.

* * *

"Ward… changed when you joined the team. Before it was like he would do anything just to get re-assigned, but then you came along and he was completely different right away. At first I thought it was you. I mean, he really likes you, Skye. But now, I'm thinking it was something… more."

"Like what?" Skye rolls her eyes, uninterested in her conspiracy theories. "He's a double agent or something."

Alice does not answer or meet her eyes.

"Oh, come on! Ward is not a double agent!"

"Then how do you explain the rapid-fire change. You don't go from wanting to have nothing to do with the team to never wanting to leave in an hour."

"How would you explain it, then?" Skye asks.

* * *

*eight hours previously*

Alice stands in the corner of the most awkward, scary, silent interrogation she has ever been a part of. Coulson sent her in to make sure May did not scar the kid for life, but by the time Alice entered the room it was probably too late.

After starting at the kid for a good three minutes, the agent pushes a plate of cookies toward the boy. "Have a cookie," she offers. Or, maybe it was a threat. With May, it could be either one.

The boy- Jerry- looks at Alice, beads of sweat collecting on his forehead. She must look the kinder of the two, younger and pretty, if a little gothic. The black hair extenuated her pale skin, along with the green of her eyes (she had taken out the brown contacts for this reason), almost perfectly matching the colored streak in her hair. Combine that with her SHIELD cat suit, and she could see why the kid was drawn to her. She was kind of girl teenage boys fantasize about.

Alice was going to have to disappoint him.

She remains impassive, fixing a cold, disconnected mask onto her face. One she learned from the Mockingbird herself, watching her mother's interrogation tactics. "They won't hurt you," Alice says in controlled tones, lacing her voice with just the right amount of sarcasm to keep him afraid. By staying in the corner, she would remain aloof, mysterious.

Alice almost felt bad for Jerry, being interrogated by the two of them.

Almost, but not quite.

Jerry takes a cookie in his grubby hand, biting into it cautiously.

"Now, Jerry. Can you tell us about the camping trip?" May asks, not changing her tone or position. Letting him know she was not someone to play with.

A bead of sweat rolls down his face. Jerry seems unable to speak, his lips shut tight. The cookie falls from his fingers as he starts to rock back and forth slightly.

Okay, now she really felt bad for him.

Figuring this was what Coulson meant when he told her not to let May traumatize the kid, she walks closer, softening her expression slightly. "We don't want to hurt you, Jerry. We know you and your friends didn't do this."

Jerry nods and looks back at May. She is still staring at him, a little less severe. The scout spills the story.

* * *

"I think that he never wanted to be taken off the team. I think his agency ordered him to gather information on us, manly on Coulson. The whole 'I work better alone', while true, was an act."

"Right, because Captain America never really came out of the ice and Tupac is alive."

Again, Alice does not answer.

Skye, understandably, goes a little nuts. "Steve Rogers isn't Captain America anymore?! And Tupac…"

"Calm down, Skye. SHIELD actually _did_ fish Rogers out of the ocean. Coulson would have thrown a fit if Fury tried to replace 'the Star Spangled Man with a Plan'. But… don't worry about Tupac. He's with the Illuminati."

"They're real too?"

"… yes and no. The Illuminati have absorbed themselves into many groups and agencies since they were founded. The Freemasons, the CIA, FBI, Interpol. Mostly at the top levels, with more and more of their people the higher you go. More recently, SHIELD. So, when I say the Illuminati, I mean he's in a SHIELD safe house controlled by high-ranking freemason members who are SHIELD agents and most likely a part of the Illuminati."

The hacker starts typing furiously into her laptop, forgetting about Alice's Ward theory entirely.

* * *

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	6. The Specialist: Part 2

**1\. Thank you to** **Pansycakeinthetardis and everyone who r &r&f&fs**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

"Dude! This is way more serious than the Illuminati!" Alice whisper-screams. "Ward is a frickin' double-agent."

"Ali, we have no proof of that. At all." Skye sighs. "And I can't find a thing on Tupac. Or Elvis."

"Skye! This is more important. I have more proof. It may be a bit circumstantial, but…" she lets herself trail off.

Skye closes her laptop, giving Alice her full attention once again. "Fine, I'm interested. Go ahead with your crazy whack-a-mole conspiracy theory."

"Ok, so we've established that he was under orders to act like he didn't want to be here, right?" Skye looks doubtful, but Alice carries on anyway. "So, obviously this is a well thought out plan. What I'm thinking is, he is here to gather intel on Coulson for Centipede. Because of the whole Loki thing." She taps her heart pointedly.

"And this proof I keep hearing about?"

Alice sits on Skye's bunk, moving from her position on the wall. "Well, that's what I'm getting at next."

* * *

 _Alice was ten the first time she met Grant Ward. On a routine trip to the Operations Academy, she was thoroughly bored. Her mother had been in meetings and watching cadets the whole day, looking for the most promising soon-to-be agents._

 _Alice twisted the red streak in her hair. She had started coloring strands of her naturally pale blonde hair that year. That, along with the combat boots and black leather jacket, was her newest safety blanket. Bobbi allowed her them because she felt bad about them moving around so much. That, and the fact that Alice had not seen her father in a couple of months._

 _This was nothing new. Lance Hunter was not a SHIELD agent; he was a mercenary. But, he was also a good dad. A great one. He could not help his profession any more than her mother could._

 _Ali is pulled from the train of her thoughts and spit onto the tracks as Grant Ward comes up behind her, fists clenched. She remembers him from her mother's files. One of the hard ones. He was a good enough agent, but his past was shady to say the least. And he was not exactly a people person._

 _Apparently, her mother had rightly turned him away. And he was mad about it._

 _Or, maybe he was not. Alice hides behind a building, listening as Grant laughs a little. He does not move, pulling out a cell phone and calling someone. "Garrett? Yeah, yeah, I got passed up. I know, only one more before you get here. Trust me, I'll work for it." He pauses, then laughs at something. "Yeah, I know. How crazy can you be, keeping a kid like that? She follows around like a pet. Yeah, would have been better to just get rid of it." The rest is inaudible._

 _Alice runs back to the room where her mother is working, pulling her away immediately. She relays the first half of the conversation, leaving out the comments about them and their family. "What does it mean?" Ali asks._

 _Bobbi is not worried. "He's promised to work for Garrett. It's not all that uncommon. Even I threw a couple of training sessions. Sometimes two people just don't fit."_

 _This should appease her, but Ali cannot stop the sinking feeling that something else was going on there._

* * *

"Okay. Let's say for a second that what you're insinuating is true. Why did he go and save Simmons earlier? He could have just let her fall into the ocean. One less person to trick," Skye points out.

This stumps Alice for a second. "Well… a new person would be another variable. He already had a surprise with you joining the team. Maybe he doesn't want to have to repeat that again."

Skye is silent. "Ali… have you ever thought this might be about something different?"

"Like what?" Alice asks, mind sorting through all the possibilities.

"Maybe… because what he said about your mom?"

"What? No! He's entitled to his own opinions. This about everything that doesn't add up with him."

"Look… I'd be hurt too. In fact, that did hurt, given the fact that I was a foster kid."

Ali gets off the bed, walking two steps to the other side of the bunk. "All he said was that agent's shouldn't have kids. And then he commented on the Mockingbird."

"I'd be hurt to, if someone suggested I should have been given up. Well… someone obviously did, in my case. But you know what I mean."

"That isn't what this is about, Skye. I really think something is going on here." With one last look at Skye's unimpressed face, she leaves.

The doubt settles in her brain that night, refusing to budge. Didn't her mother always say she took things too far? That was one of the reasons why Bobbi never wanted her to become a field agent. She would blow up for nothing and get stuck in her head thinking about it, putting herself and others at risk.

Like she was doing now.

"I think you were right," Alice tells Skye the next day. "I was just internalizing."

The hacker smiles, nodding. One look at her monitor tells her that Skye has not given up on Tupac yet.

Alice sighs and leaves to start punching something. Or, rather _train_.

* * *

 **Watcha think?**

 **More serious stuff coming soon.**


	7. The Start of the Fall

**1\. Thank you to AgentsArePansycakeInTheTardis and everyone who reads/follows/favorites/reviews**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything.**

* * *

For a couple of weeks, they exist in a kind of dream-state of near perfection. The team meshes perfectly, working case after case. They all walk on water.

Until, all the sudden, that changes.

Coulson had been brought back from the dead.

Skye was an 0-8-4.

Centipede had been brought down, but the Clairvoyant was still out there.

They all felt the rug been taken out from under them.

But they did not know how much farther they were to fall.

* * *

When Alice feels her phone start vibrating in her pocket, she curses. Then apologizes to May, who is doing Tai Chi close by. She picks up the call.

"Hey, mom."

May raises her eyebrows and continues her exercises.

"Hi, Ali. How's California?"

Alice looks around. She certainly was not in California right now- more like somewhere over Canada- but that was where her parents thought she was. Working some menial office job at an insurance firm. Dating on the side.

Being perfectly normal.

"It's ordinary, mom. Where are you?"

Bobbi pauses. "On the Triskelion, actually. That's part of why I'm calling. I'm going to be off the grid for a while. You know how it is on here."

"Yeah, I do. It's okay." She take a moment to think. "Is the other thing about dad?"

Morse sighs. "You should be a field agent. You're too good at this," she laughs a bit at the thought. "Lance called me yesterday and asked about how you were doing. Said he hadn't heard from you in a while."

"I've been really busy with work. And… uh, I think I met someone." She adds the last part to divert her mother's attention but immediately regrets it.

"Really? What's their name?" Bobbi sounds exited. Probably already buying her a white picket fence house in the Hamptons.

"Um… Skye. But I'm not even sure if she feels the same way. Plus, she's a hacker…"

Bobbi gets that mothering tone, and Ali can almost see her tilting her head slightly and preparing to deliver some all-important lesson about life. "And your father is a mercenary. And I'm a SHIELD agent. It certainly was not easy for us, especially with you to take care of, but we made it work, even after the divorce. Things are never easy, Alice. They never will be. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go after them. If you really like this girl you should go for it."

"Ok, mom. Uh, my break is over. I'll call dad tomorrow. Love you. Bye." She hangs up quickly, avoiding May's line of sight. Of course, the Cavalry has her ways, and Alice finds herself sitting across from May in a minute. She is not exactly sure how she got there.

"I don't care that you like Skye," May says right off the bat. "But I want to remind you the reason why this is bad."

"I know, it compromises the whole team. Especially with Ward…"

"I've got Ward." With that, May leaves. Alice sits there for a bit, just thinking.

* * *

The rug starts to slip when Skye gets shot. Alice is there, fallen down from having been shot in the shoulder. It hurts, but when Skye falls down she cannot even feel it anymore. All Alice can think is she must get Skye out of here. To safety. To FitzSimmons.

Alice picks her up carefully, running up the stairs and straight to where the doctors are. It's just blurs. She is running and then Skye is on a table and then they are at a hospital and someone is trying to stitch her up and she is screaming.

"No! Go help her! She's dying! Coulson! Tell them!"

Coulson nods at them, and the doctors disperse. "They're going to help her, Ali. It's okay." She takes a shaky breath, calming herself down like the Academy taught her. "Why don't I get Simmons in here to patch that up?" he asks kindly, referencing to her arm.

Alice looks down at her shoulder, realizing for the first time how much it hurt. She nods weakly, sitting down. "Thank you. And… uh, sorry. For yelling."

"It's okay. We're all scared."

"Yeah, well, we're not all running around the corridors, refusing medical treatment and generally wreaking havoc."

"We don't all feel the same way about Skye."

"I would hope so," Alice says, raising her eyebrows. "That would be hella awkward."

Coulson shakes his head, giving up on a serious conversation entirely. "I would laugh, but…"

"It would feel wrong."

He nods somberly as Simmons arrives, looking tired.

"Is this going to involve cutting open my shirt?" Alice asks. With that, Coulson leaves pretty quickly.

"I think you'll be fine just taking it off for now," Simmons smiles slightly, beside herself. For a second forgetting, perhaps. Good. Alice did not need a nervous doctor extracting a bullet from her shoulder.

Wincing, she lifts the ruined shirt over her head. Jemma helps her pull the garment away and Alice notices her hands shaking slightly. "Hey, you need a shot of something? I'm not judging or anything. I mean, I would do anything for some tequila right now."

"I don't do shots." Simmons attempts to still her hands and succeeds. She smiles slightly, numbing the area. "Fitz would be cringing right now. He hates this stuff."

"How long have you two known each other?" She would not be surprised to find they had met in the womb.

"At the Academy, actually. We were the youngest two there, both eighteen. At first it was like we were rivals. But we had to work on this project together our second month because no one else would partner with either of us and it all kind of came together."

Alice nods, watching as Jemma carefully extracted the piece of metal from her arm. Bullets certainly looked different after they had been inside of a person. "Right, now I just have to debride the wound and patch you up," the doctor mutters, mostly to herself.

"Sounds good to me, doc."

Simmons smirks and continues fixing her shoulder. In ten minutes, its bandages and Jemma is giving Alice her cardigan to wear. "Your shirt is ruined, you should take it."

"No, it's okay, I'll grab a scrub top from one of the doctors or something," Alice offers, jumping off the table. She picks up her ruined shirt with her good arm, shoving her batons back into the waistband of her jeans.

Jemma raises her eyebrows. "It's a cardigan. I know you don't like taking things from people but-"

"-where did you get _that_ idea?"

Simmons looks a little worried for her safety. "Um… I don't know. Just a feeling."

Alice takes offence. "I'll take it," she snaps. Then she feels sorry, because Jemma is looking at her with those hurt eyes. "And thank you. For fixing my shoulder." She slips her arms into the sleeves, quickly buttoning the cardigan. It's a nice material, soft. "Where are everyone else?"

"The waiting room," Jemma replies gravely.

The delicate happiness they had allowed themselves shatters.

* * *

 **Tell me what you think (:**


	8. The Waiting Room

**1\. Sorry that this chapter is not only four days late, but it is short as well. The only thing I can say is I've had 2 EOCs this week and four quizzes (Spanish, none the less). It's a bad excuse, I know, but I really had to study ): Hey, at least there's only 2 finals to go! So, yeah, sorry if I'm not exactly on schedule with updating the next few weeks.**

 **2\. Thanks to the usual people (you know who you are).**

 **Disclaimer: I claim the rights to nothing.**

* * *

Alice does not like waiting rooms.

 _She was fifteen when her mother had been shot. Twice at long-range. One had hit her in the arm, but it was only a flesh wound._

Alice rolls her shoulder in the cardigan. It felt itchy all the sudden. Irritated.

She sits down next to Coulson, who is starring at his hands. Fitz is parallel to him, and Simmons takes a seat next to him. May is leaning on the wall and Ward is pacing. The people at the front desk are working.

People are living their lives.

But how could they? Skye was shot.

 _Bobbi was also shot in the back. Taken to surgery. Mack was sitting with her in the waiting room. Well, he was sitting. Ali was standing, moving around. Generally being a scared nuisance._

 _"_ _What if she can't be an agent anymore? What if she's paralyzed or something? What if she dies?"_

 _"_ _That's not going to happen," Mack assures her._

 _This might have worked on a different kid, but Lily know better. She had been in the field, she had seen people being shot at (even been shot at herself once). She had seen people die. "It could."_

Now it was even worse. If Bobbi had died or been permanently hurt, her world would have been changed forever. If Skye died or got even more hurt, she felt like the entire world would tip on its axis and start to crumble around her.

Alice jumps up suddenly, unable to keep her emotions inside anymore. It was weird. She had spent years working on control. Hiding. Now, all she could do was keep herself from punching a hole in the wall.

 _Her mother was fine- this time. After a couple months of rehab, Bobbi was back in the field, Ali following her across whole continents, as usual._

 _But she never forgot the look on the surgeons' faces when they told her._

She knows its bad news the second the doctors move into sight. Very bad news. She cries out, hands flying to her mouth. Simmons puts and arm around her, and they watch Ward run forward, hopeful look still plastered onto his face.

"We did everything we could…" the rest is static in her ears.

She is running. Toward the glass and Skye's body. Because she is not technically dead yet, Alice can see the neon yellow line going up and down on the monitor.

And then it comes to her.

"We need to go to the Guest House" Alice informs them. Simmons looks doubtful, but she is the only one. The rest of the team jumps at the idea, and Coulson gives the official order.

They were going to save Skye.

* * *

 **Again, sorry about the short and late chapter. Please review?**


	9. The Boxes

**1\. Sorry this took so long! Things have been really crazy after that finale. I owe you guys another chapter I think... going to try to get that one up after I finish the next chapter of She Needs Us.**

 **2\. Thanks to the usual people.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Alice jumps off the BUS with renewed vigor. The air was cool and crisp, cold radiating off the icy ground. Snow covered the mountainside like a sheet, hiding most of the compound's entrance from view. Even so, she found it hard to believe that no one had ever found this place by accident. A hiker was going to veer off course at some point.

With them were Agent Triplet and Agent Garrett. Ali had no idea why they were here, and she barely cared. The only reason why she took notice was that Ward and Garrett together freaked her out, and she wanted to keep an eye on that.

Fitz hacks into the door quickly, but not as fast as Skye could have. Ali taps her foot impatiently, standing partway away from the group of male agents. The testosterone was getting on her nerves.

Coulson shoots her a worried glance, but Ali just shakes her head and looks away, stalking up and down the strip of pavement outside the doors. How could they be so calm? If it was one of them Skye would be jumping off the walls.

It dawns on her that this was for a reason. It was obvious really. Skye had never been trained like she was. Like all of them were. Emotions were just obstacles to be pushed out of the way, packed up and saved for later. Tears were for your pillow, not the field.

After a while, you forget to take the feelings back out again. They just sit there, in that dusty old box in the corner of your mind.

That is, until they all come tumbling out again.

The professors at the Academy had warned them about this. How many times had they had a lecture on the importance of remembering to empty out the junk drawers in their minds so that they could be filled again? But at the right place, the right time. Save it for the bunk. Know when you need to blow off some steam. Private citizens are okay, but other agents are probably the safest choice. they know how not to get attached. But always remember to use protection (you don't want to be the next Mockingbird, having to run around on jobs with a kid tagging along).

But now the boxes were bursting open.

Was this how Skye felt all the time? So full of... everything? Emotions, all at once. Joy and bitterness and rage and glee and hope. Ali could not remember ever allowing herself to feel so much, and all at once. Not since she was a kid at least. Boxing it up was so much easier. So organized. If she needed happy, she took some happy. If she needed an edge, she dipped into the rage or bitterness. It kept everything clean.

Coulson was looking at her again. Ali realized the other agents were already entering the base while she was pacing around in thought.

Alice shakes her head, filing everything away in one swift motion.

Right now Skye needed the agent, not the girl.

* * *

"Where'd you pick this one up, Phil? Looks like she's barely legal." Garrett asks, pointing at her with his eyes. God, she _hated_ that dude.

"Fury assigned me," Alice speaks up. "Fresh out of the Academy, sir."

Garrett looks her up and down. "Have we met?" he asks, looking slightly confused. "You seem familiar."

Ali shrugs. "I've been around." She hears Fitz snicker a bit behind her back and smiles herself, turning back to the entrance. "So, how are we gonna get in without them seeing us on the cameras?"

Fitz points upward, his face for once free of his trademark grin.

"Hope you like climbing, girly," Garrett says patronizingly.

Alice looks at Coulson, silently begging for permission to hurt the other agent. He shakes his head a little, barely keeping a small smirk off of this face. Ali gives Garrett a hard look. "I like it just fine. Sir." She moves forward as Ward removes a panel from the ceiling of the elevator. Grabbing hold of the edge, she pulls herself up with ease and waits for the guys to follow.

One by one, she watches as the agents all climb out of the moving metal box. Just another box, she realizes. The world was made of boxes, ones that they never even realized existed most of the time. Box for box. Drawer for drawer. Cell for cell.

The emotions were coming out again, she had to push them away.

Fitz rigs his own camera so they know when the doors open. "Okay," he says finally a few seconds after the elevator stops moving.

"Then lets get going," Garrett says, throwing Ali a creepy-as-hell smile.

Feelings or not she still did not like that guy.

* * *

 **So sorry once again for another late chapter. Anyway, please tell me what you think. (:**


	10. The Guest House

**1\. Thanks to AgentsarePansycakeintheTardis and everyone who reads/favs/follows/reviews**

 **2\. Yay! I'm up to date! Only, I'm not because today is Monday. Okay, so next chapter will be after the next chapter of She Needs Us (and possibly Inpatient Treatment). I will be up to date one day!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD.**

* * *

The group pushes forward, quickly taking the compound. There are only two guards in the whole bunker, and both are dead in minutes. It's their own fault, they refused to let the team in. At least, that is what Alice tells herself to keep on moving.

She searches in the main room first. It's huge and dark, which makes her job that much harder. Fitz had not hacked into the lights yet, but once he did Ali knew the light could reflect off of the broken glass and make searching near it a pain.

Ali does not get that far. Almost immediately, she spots a weak red light. It is slightly elevated, almost as if it is sitting on something else. That 'something else' is a sinister-looking dark shape with multiple wires stretching around it. "Crap. Coulson!" she shouts, instinctively stepping forward to get a closer look. "There's a bomb!"

Everyone turns in her direction, Fitz just as he was finishing with the lights. They come on just as Coulson rounds the corner, nearly blinding the man. He shields his eyes from the glass for a second as they adjust. "Well, that's not good."

"Ya think? It's got a timer, Coulson. We've got just under thirty minutes before this place goes 'Boom'," she informs them.

"And there's enough explosives down here to bring down the whole mountain." Fitz points to lines of rectangular prisms snaking up the support beams, all connected by some kind of wire.

Alice walks closer to them almost touching the death trap. "It's a failsafe. And we've got no way to turn it off. Just one step closer to that horrific death you predicted, Agent Garrett."

Garrett chuckles a bit. "Right, then. Me and Ward will stay here and try deactivating the bomb before it goes off," he orders, still as cheerful as ever. "You three can go look for the cure."

Alice opens her mouth to disagree- Grant and Garrett should not be alone together in this place- but Coulson cuts her off, touching her arm lightly. "We don't have time to argue. Skye doesn't have time for us to argue."

Coulson trusts Garrett. And Ward. That should be enough for her, but it is not. She wants to stand her ground and fight because her gut tells her to. But Skye's words echo around her head, ' _I'd be hurt too, if someone suggested I should have been given up_ '. And they really did not have any surplus when it came to time.

"Fine." She turns and quickly starts off down a corridor of the base, Coulson and Fitz following behind.

* * *

They slow down a bit in the hallway, just enough to read the spray-painted labels on all of the reinforced doors. _Kitchen. Bunks. Recovery._

They turn a corner in the dimly lit maze. "This is it," Coulson says suddenly, throwing open _Viewing_. Alice and Fitz creep in after him, neither saying anything. They have never seen Coulson like this, all pale and clammy. He seems to be remembering something, and by the look of the operating table and instruments visible through the room's glass wall, it is not something pleasant.

Coulson turns suddenly and walks out, leaving both agents just starring down at the truly horrific-looking equipment in the room. "Do you think that's where…?"

"Yeah, must be."

Both turn and follow Coulson out at the same time.

The next time they stop is in front of _Biohazard Containment_. Fitz seems cautious, not really wanting to go in blind, but Alice and Coulson quickly overrule him.

"We should at least put suits on," Fitz reminds them, picking up one of the white plasic hazmat suits from a tray in the antechamber.

"Maybe, but there isn't enough time," Alice shoots back. Coulson does not say anything. He has been silent since the Viewing Room. Ali would be worried, but she does not have the time to even think about it right now.

She opens the room, which is still dark for some reason. It does not really matter, given that they all have flashlights. "Just be careful not to spill anything that looks radioactive."

Fitz looks at her like she is insane, which might be the case. Not that it matters.

Alice and Coulson hurriedly start scanning the rows of liquids. "The COMs are down, which means that Simmons can't tell us what this stuff is. Or, at least which ones we shouldn't come into contact with," Fitz tells them, also deciding to bypass the safety measures.

They investigate the substances on the desk first, finding everything from peppermint sticks to a syrupy yellow liquid that makes Alice sneeze.

"There!" Coulson says suddenly, making the two younger agents jump.

Alice fumbles for the light to the glass cabinets. Fitz finds it first. Then more searching. Finally, they see the telltale biohazard containers. "Of course it's in the frickin' locked cabinet," Alice mutters.

"Here." Coulson hands her the keys, giving no explanation as to how he got them. Alice does not ask. She tries fitting the two different keys into the cabinet before she finds the right one. They grab the serum and start to leave. "Go, I'll be right behind you," Coulson tells them.

So they run.

* * *

 **Tell me what you think! We're almost at the end of season one (and we all know what's coming in season two- the parents!) So thanks again to everyone who reads this fic.**


	11. The Agent

**Long overdue chapter: check. Apology for not updating sooner: check. Disclaimer stating that "I do not own AoS": check. Thanks to all you amazing people: check.**

* * *

And they run. Alice is runs onto the BUS and straight into Skye's Med Pod. She hands the vial to Simmons and begs her- in her mind- to stop asking questions and just save Skye already.

Simmons gives the drug to Skye just as Coulson comes in, screaming that they couldn't give it to her.

"It's too late,' Simmons replies in a squeak. Coulson's fear reflected off the scientist. But she gets herself together and continues. "But what more harm could it do?"

Alice will never forget the look on Coulson's face then. Hope and anger mingled with fear. A lot of fear. Whatever he had seen down there was not good.

And then Skye's back arches, and all her monitors begin beeping, and everyone turns to Simmons in a panic. The scientist looks like she is on the verge of a breakdown until Skye all the sudden begins to stabilize.

"Anyone mind explaining what the hell just happened?" Ward asks.

"Girl's a fighter," Trip explains. Alice decides she likes him.

"It works." Alice can forget everything else, because Skye was not going to die. Not today. Within the hour she is awake. Tired and in pain, but awake. Eyes open and shinning.

Skye can breathe so Alice can breathe. The world was no longer ending.

* * *

In a couple of weeks, Skye is well again. Even Simmons seems to think so, save the major donations Skye was still making to their local blood bank.

Ward and Skye seem closer. Their relationship is full of concealed smiles and weird looks that Alice tries not to be envious of. She wonders if they're getting together on days off. Dating. Going to bars and getting drunk off their asses. Sharing a hotel room.

Probably not, the logical part of her brain muses. They don't have that much time on their hands anyway.

The Clarvioyant is still out there, with no intention of fading to the shadows. And even if he did, Coulson's team would never let him, not after he ordered the hit on Skye.

Red is sent by Furry to set up a mission. Alice respects her, because it takes some work to be a high-level female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with colored streaks in your hair (she should know). Not to mention pulling it off at her age. They propose a blind mission, headed by a trustworthy agent, but before that can happen, someone has to be given their due.

* * *

"What's going on?" Skye asks as she is led into the debriefing room. It is filled with about ten agents, all crowded around waiting for the hacker.

Alice smiles at her from a corner. "We just wanted to tell you about the next mission."

"We'll be pairing off to look for the Clairvoyant," Red explains. "No one will have all the information, other than you." There is a warning behind the words: don't screw it up.

"We think some agents may be working with or for the Clairvoyant," Coulson elaborates. "This way, we don't have to worry about that."

"And if the information is somehow leaked, we know who did it."

Skye nods. "Okay. But why not a double-blind? I give one person in the pair the name and the other the address. That way no one knows everything before they get there."

Red nods her approval.

"I like how you think. I like how she thinks," Garrett says, first to Skye and then to the room. Alice rolls her eyes a bit behind his back.

"But, um. One question: How am I supposed to get the information without someone else in the room? I don't have clearance."

"We can fix that," Red says, nodding to Coulson.

He draws out a SHIELD badge. "We think you've definitely earned this."

FitzSimmons come up from the lab, guided by May. All three smile at her proudly.

"Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Skye."

* * *

 **Ugh, I know this is short, but I'm moving so yeah.**


	12. The Problems

**1\. So... I'm sorry again for all the sporadic updates lately. School's out and I've moved (for now) so updates should be once a week again. I'm still going to update on Mondays for the fic, and you can see the days for my other fics on my profile. Thanks to everyone who is still reading this (:**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD.**

* * *

The first problem arises when they split into pairs. There is an extra person. Alice is of course the first name to be suggested when they discus who will stay behind (she notices it's Garrett, not Coulson or Red, who throws her name into it), but Skye saves her by saying one of the possible Clairvoyants is armed and an extra agent should go as backup. Maybe it's a coincidence that Garrett and Coulson are going to that one, and maybe it is not. She chooses not to think too much about it.

The whole 'backup' thing is the next problem. Garrett says she should not get any specs on the op, given that she is officially backup now. Skye is quick to disagree. "She should get _all_ the info, since she's the one going in alone."

"But she's not _going in_. Agent Alice is going to wait around the corner in an armored car and play Candy Crush while me and Agent Coulson take the suspect into custody."

"How do you expect her to get there?" Skye argues. "She needs the full specs."

"And what if it's her? God knows she's the youngest agent to get level eight clearance by about twenty years. It makes sense."

"Sir, respectfully, that's a load of crap." Usually, Alice would have been faster to defend herself, but today her arm was hurting like a mother. "Fury trusts me. That should be enough."

"Fury trusts no one, and he's got one eye to remind us all of the fact that we should follow his example. You should be staying back here with the response team, not tailing us because your girlfriend here doesn't want you to feel left out."

There is silence. It's Alice against Garrett, and the latter crossed a very thin line. Whether or not it was the truth no longer matters, because it is about the principle. SHIELD didn't like relationships. It didn't like anything more than two agents blowing off steam, actually. Garrett's accusation went straight back to the unspoken rules of relationships between agents, and Alice felt the back of her neck burning red, because at least Coulson, May and Skye knew she was a barely tolerated exception to that rule in the first place.

It didn't help that she actually liked Skye, that she wished they could actually have a relationship with a white picket fence and dogs and normal neighbors who didn't draw their guns when they heard a car alarm go off.

Skye looks at her briefly, her own face blushing slightly. She looks just as embarrassed as Ali feels right now, and for a moment Alice wonders if she might just feel the same way. But no… she liked Ward. This was embarrassment at the thought of being romantically involved with Alice, which she has to admit stings a little. But she had to understand that Skye was barely an agent, and she had to be careful who she was implicated with.

For a second, Ali's hand hovers dangerously close to her ICER. Her fingers brush the cool metal, and she wonders how long it would take Garrett to react. If she could actually hit him. One hit, and she wouldn't have to deal with his comments for a few hours.

But then she would get shipped off to Debrief for the rest of her life. Mack would find out, because he had friends everywhere, and it wasn't every day that a twenty-something year old level eight agent gets taken out of the field. He would put two and two together, as Mack always does, and get four. Then he would call her mother on her and Alice would never hear the end of it. Oh god, the lecture would never end.

Logic wins out, and Alice drops her hand. Still, her hands creep eerily close to her batons for a split second before she catches herself and drops her arms. They fall by her sides, and she thinks for another moment. Damn, her arm hurt. It had been tender for weeks now, but she had gotten shot, hadn't she? "Just for the record, I'm not dating anyone."

Then she dramatically collapses.

* * *

The third problem: Alice had an infection.

"Why didn't you _say_ your arm was hurting?" Simmons asks for the hundredth time, hooking her up to a hundred unnecessary machines. The scientist was pissed; just when she got to stop playing doctor, someone else had to go get themselves an illness.

"Because I got shot. And it's not like it's the first time I've been hit, I know what kind of pain is good and what kind is bad. Didn't think anything of it."

"Until you collapsed," Fitz mutters darkly. He was tinkering with her ICER, which had taken the worst of her fall. "Completely jammed the compacters… melted the whole round… why couldn't it have been those stupid sticks of hers?" Alice shoots daggers at him with her eyes. Her batons had been taken from her at some point, probably because they knew she would use then to get the hell out of there if given the opportunity.

"You didn't seem to think they were so stupid when you made me the boomerang bracelets," Alice mutters back.

"They're magnetic field generator cuffs," Simmons corrects her immediately. They had had more than a few fights over the name. "And will you two knock it off? I'm trying to insert a central line."

Alice sighs and throws her head against the pillows in Skye's old med pod. It was good they hadn't dropped it off at HQ apparently, because that was where Coulson had instructed Trip to drop Alice after her not-so-subtle scene. "Are they on the mission yet? How's it going?"

"They left about half an hour ago. Everyone is fine, Ali."

" _Everyone_ is fine," Fitz adds begrudgingly. "And Skye's not even in the field," he says under his breath after turning away.

Alice looks up sharply. "I'm not dating Skye," she says.

"We know," Simmons replies, giving Fitz a 'what did we talk about earlier?' look.

Alice looks at them, feeling the blood rise in her face. "I don't think you do."

"Well… we've all noticed you-"

"-seem to have developed a crush on Skye."

"Except maybe Skye herself. It's-"

"Funny how it always seems to work that way."

"Isn't it?"

Alice sighs, feeling like she was watching a tennis match between the two. It made her head spin, especially now that she was allowed to feel sick. "Yeah… yeah it is."

* * *

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	13. The Clairvoyant (?)

**1\. Thanks to AgentsArePansyCakeInTheTardis for the prompt and everyone who reads, favorites, follows, and/or reviews.**

 **2\. Bad medical stuff coming up... I looked up a lot of it on Google so maybe kinda realistic? Yeah, probably not. Just bear with me and chalk anything abnormal up to Simmons' skills please.**

 **3\. Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD.**

* * *

Skye looks at the wall. Her laptop. The numbers in the bottom right hand corner, to be exact. Then back at the wall.

She hadn't really ever considered her feelings toward women before. Skye guesses everyone kind of just assumes they are straight until someone goes and makes a comment or looks at you in a certain way. And you feel… something. Something more. You realize. It should not matter, not at all. But for some reason the knowing makes it different. Not bad- it was not _wrong_ and you were still the same person as before- it was just a different feeling than the casual assumption of heterosexuality. And when the ecstasy of that feeling leaves you start to think about it.

And think.

And think.

Which made concentrating a major problem.

But Skye had to pay attention. It seemed like half of SHIELD was on this Clairvoyant-catching mission, and she wasn't about to be the one to mess it up.

Skye absentmindedly continues to give orders through her COM, forcing her mind to focus. No way was someone dying on her watch.

Eventually, she actually does pay attention, the act quickly turning into her state of mind. It was not that hard once she cleared out her mindplace, the numbers, facts and people streaming through the screen of her laptop were too enticing to focus upon anything else.

It seems that May and one of the nameless Level Eights have the real sight, so Skye quickly diverts the other agents to the Retirement/Care facility. The nameless Level Eight almost gets killed by Deathlock… Skye is not sure how she feels about that one. Mike deserved better, but she guessed he was the enemy now.

Either way, what comes next is best described as anticipation turned to victory turned to dread. It's a horrible, horrible feeling, to know that one of their own killed a man in cold blood- even if he was a superpowered killer. And Skye could not shake the feeling that it had been in part due to her previous feelings for her S.O. ( _previous_ \- her brain inserted the word automatically, as if it had already come to terms with her new feelings).

"What happens now?" she asks Coulson over the COM, watching as Ward was lead to the corner and cuffed. Her heart ached a bit, watching her teammate so severely broken. Her team drifting apart under the stress. First Ali got an infection, now this. Skye wondered how long before the cracks snaked to the surface and finally shattered the glass that was their team completely.

"We take him to the HUB and he'll tried by a SHIELD review board. It'll be found as self-defense and he'll be back with us in no time." Skye notices how Coulson- subconsciously or not- refuses to say Ward's name. How he spits out the likely ruling as if it is a curse.

Right. Because he was a killer now. But he had been before… Skye guessed it was just the knowledge that this time it had been blind rage that overtook the specialist. The fact that they had both watched it happen.

"Just get him back here. I don't think we can take much more of this," Skye mutters, turning off her COM immediately afterward. She didn't want to have to hear any more.

* * *

Ali watches Fitz attempt to fix her jammed ICER out of the corner of her eye. He was muttering and curing. Fitz was actually cursing a lot. Alice figured she had completely ruined it- that is until Leo was suddenly thanking the monkey gods and jumping up and down slightly. He and Simmons begin talking in the speed of light way of theirs. Between the accents and the science, Ali only gets about half of it. So much for her biology degree.

"Can I try it?" she asks as Simmons comes in to adjust her meds. "And what are you giving me?"

"No and I just got the lab results. It's Staph, not MRSA thank god, but we caught it early enough that there should not be any lasting effects. The only symptom you're showing is a rash around the area, which is good. The fighting was caused by dehydration, so I'm giving you fluids and Penicillin. Unless you're allergic. Are you?"

"Nope. I had it once when I was a kid," Ali replies.

"Good."

Alice sighs, staring at the needle in her 'good' arm (how could an arm be good if it had an item commonly used for sewing stuck in it?). "How long?"

"Ten to twenty days."

"Five, then," Alice bargains.

"Ten to twenty days."

"Eight."

"Ten to twenty days."

Alice gives her a May glare. "We don't have time for this."

Simmons stomps a foot in frustration. "No, we don't. The others will be back soon. If you want to fight about this, I suggest you take it up with your infection, because I can't make it go away any faster. God, you are a worse patient than Skye." With that, she turns around and leaves, almost knocking Skye down in the process.

"Wow. I've actually been outdone," the hacker laughs. She stands in the doorway, head cocked to the side and arms folded. "Can I come in?"

Ali nods. "You know, you're the first person to ask. Granted, it's only FitzSimmons here, but still… thank you."

"You're welcome," Skye counters, sitting down next to her hospital bed. Unintentionally on the side of her 'bad' arm. "Ouch!" she exclaims, staring at the red-tinted rash that had suddenly appeared around Ali's use-to-be-healing bullet wound. "What _happened_?"

"I thought it was better and didn't look at it for a couple days," Alice replies in a monotone. "It's just Staph."

Skye looks alarmed. "Isn't that deadly?"

"You've been watching too much Netflix. It's not MRSA, so this strain responds to antibiotics. It'll be fine after the Simmons-appointed time frame of ten to twenty days."

Skye nods. "Good." Great, actually. Ten to twenty days… she could deal with that.

"I still think I can knock this thing out in five," Ali mutters.

"Yeah, well, science doesn't." Skye smirks then stops quickly. "Ward shot someone. The Clairvoyant. And he's being taken in front of some kind of SHIELD tribunal when we get to the HUB…"

"If you want to go see him, that's okay," Alice says quickly.

"What? No, it's not like that. I mean, yeah, I'm going to see him later but now. I just wanted to fill you in. We got him and all that."

"That's great."

"Yeah, it is. So… any news on the illuminati?" Skye asks coyly.

Alice sighs good-naturedly, smiling.

Maybe something good would come of this.

* * *

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	14. The Fall

**1\. Thanks to AgentsArePansycakeInTheTardis for the prompt and all of you for reading! Special thanks to those who review *creepy winking face***

 **2\. Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD *Tear***

* * *

When SHIELD falls, Alice is stuck in bed.

Her infection took a turn for the worst a couple days earlier, making her develop a fever of 105 degrees and her heart rate jump above 90 beats per minute. When her respiratory rate goes above 20 breaths per minute, Doctor Simmons officially hands her the diagnosis of sepsis along with a boat load of antibiotics and fluids.

As it turned out, Alice was not exactly receiving either.

With everything going on, no one thought to check her IV, or the pills Simmons was doling out. That was, not until all hell broke loose.

It was happening gradually, ever since the Clairvoyant emerged from the woodwork. And then they found the fake Clairvoyant and Ward shot him. From then on, Ali only got second hand information given to her by Coulson, Skye or FitzSimmons. But by then she barely cared because Alice felt so damn _sick_ that she could barely register the passing days.

But something happens, Simmons realizes that a HYDRA agent had been switching out her IV bags. "I don't know _why_ ," Alice remembers the doctor murmuring. "She's very high-level but…" Ali does not hear the rest because she falls back into the haze of sickness and medication.

With actual drugs in her system, Alice starts to get better. Even so, she is sick enough to still spend most of her time sleeping or staring into space, and she is not awake when they move to the Playground. Koenig still makes her take the lie detector test, which she passes without incident. It was easy to be loyal to an organization you were born into.

Somewhere in the mist of it, Alice vaguely recalls Ward disappearing, then Skye. Skye came back but Ward did not, and his name was replaced with 'traitor'. Alice feels white-hot anger when she realizes what must have happened- what he must be.

Fitz occupies the hospital bed new to Alice for a while. Unconscious. They are not sure if he will wake up, or if his brain was permanently damaged. By this time Alice is mostly better, no longer able to sleep through it all. She lays there, twenty-four hours a day, watching Simmons become more and more sleep deprived. The tears are the worst part, and the way she'll sometimes start to say something and stop, as if expecting Fitz to wake up and finish her sentence.

With both Alice and Fitz out of the field, as well as Ward's deception, their team is down to half of what it used to be. Coulson is trying to re-build SHIELD, and to do that he needs agents. Not just agents, but those loyal to SHIELD and the ideas that it was founded upon. Or, at least those who had a reason to _not_ be HYDRA agents.

Coulson needs agents, that she understood, but why in all the history of SHIELD did he have to call her _parents_?

* * *

Lance Hunter is a mercenary. He does what he does for the money. Period. So why did the Director of SHIELD want to hire _him_ of all people?

The answer was muddy. His ex-wife was a SHIELD agent, but he had not heard from Bobbi since the collapse. They had a daughter, sure, but Alice had made a point not to join the agency, probably to save her mother's soul. Bobbi had a problem with their kid joining SHIELD from day one.

Maybe it had something to do with Mack, his and Bobbi's friend who had helped them out sometimes with Alice when she was younger. That was the most likely answer. Mack had probably vouched for him, and Coulson must be pretty needy, searching for people to fill his ranks.

Only, when Hunter gets to the base, Mack is genuinely surprised to see him. "Man, are we just taking _anyone_ these days?" the mechanic greets him with a chuckle. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, mate. Thought you were getting out of it after all the fuss."

"Yeah well, Coulson's got Lola. I'm just biding my time 'till I can get inside that baby."

Lance whistles, feinting astonishment. "Mack! I let you babysit my daughter!"

"Get your mind out the gutter, man. _That's_ Lola," Mack points over to a red car in the center of the garage. It was in immaculate condition, but obviously a very old model. "God, she's a beauty."

"You joined SHIELD again to work on this thing?"

Mack sighs, wiping off his grease-coated hands. "No. I'll probably never get to anyway. Coulson protects this thing with his life." He pauses. "Can you even do that after dying?"

Hunter laughs and shakes his head. "Well, I'd better go meet the boss man. See you later, mate." On the way out his hand skims the glossy red finish on the vehicle.

"Yeah, if you live that long," a feisty-looking brunette with bangs says, coming up behind him. She holds out a hand. "Skye. And the Director's number one rule is don't touch Lola. Come on, I'll take you to his office."

Lance watches Skye hurry down the corridor for a second before following.

"So you're Lance Hunter, mercenary?" Skye asks, looking him up and down. "Al- I didn't know you were British."

Hunter really is not sure how to respond. "Yeah, I'm from London."

"Cool. Well, here we are and I'll see you around, then." Skye smirks at him and leaves, presumably to go terrorize some scientists in the lab.

Hunter tries to shake the odd feeling he has, opening the door to Coulson's office. The director looks up at him, swallows, and then looks down, hanging up a call immediately. "Lance. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"I didn't think we'd met, sir."

"No, we didn't. You picked up the phone for Bobbi once when you guys were on your honeymoon. Coincidentally, that's when I found out she was pregnant."

"Coincidentally?"

* * *

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	15. The Father

**Thanks to AgentsArePansycakeInTheTardis and everyone who reads this.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD**

* * *

"I'm thinking of getting bangs," Skye muses, making a cutting motion with her hand and looking at her phone to imagine the effect. She liked it. The effect was fiercer then her girly long hair and kind of reminded her of May. Skye might need a bit of that sternness now, she thought, seeing as she had begun training with the Cavalry herself.

"Go for it," Alice replies semi-sleepily. She was still in the hospital, but Simmons was content that she was almost infection-free. Thankfully, her sepsis had never gotten past the first stage, so the time added to her recovery period was not as bad as it could have been. Ali would probably be back in a bunk in a week or even less.

Skye puts down her phone suddenly, straightening in her seat. She bites her lip briefly, and Ali knows she is in trouble. "So… you didn't tell me your dad was coming."

For a moment, Alice is too shocked to speak. "My… my dad?" she manages to stammer out.

"Yeah, I just showed him to Coulson's office. The Director wanted to have a quick talk with him, probably about you, how you've been sick. I didn't even realize it was your father until he told me his name. It was surprising, especially since I thought _you_ would at least mention the fact that he was coming on the base, especially since it looks like he's joining up." Skye picks at a loose thread on her jeans, not ready to look up just yet.

"Joining SHIELD…"

Skye studies her for a moment, hand going to her mouth. "Oh shit. You didn't know."

"I haven't called either of my parents since the infection got worse." Alice face palms. "My mother is going to kill me."

"Maybe your father won't say anything? He seems like an easygoing guy." Skye suggests helpfully.

Ali looks up briefly. "He is. And if it was anyone else he would stay quiet. But my mother… well, she might beat him to death with her batons if Dad keeps it a secret. He won't want to risk that, so Mom will definitely be getting a call from him later." Alice groans at the prospect. "You might as well just burry me now." Alice throws the covers off of her legs suddenly. "I've got to get out of here. Help- help me get this off." Ali motions to the IV stuck in her arm and the electrodes monitoring practically everything her body did.

"Ali, calm down," Skye orders, forcing her back in the bed. She had only just started training with May, so Skye was not that strong yet, but Ali was weak enough from the infections that Skye manages to get her back in the bed without much retaliation.

"They… crap. I'm supposed to be working in some office somewhere, bored but completely safe. Not traveling around the world fighting Centipede. And certainly not around for Hydra to try killing."

"Yeah well, you've been laying around for the past two weeks. That's close enough," Skye says, trying to calm Alice down a bit.

"Tell that to my mother," Alice groans, head in hands.

"If I ever meet her, I will," Skye promises.

"I hope you do. Meet her, that is."

"Really?" Skye asks, taking Alice's hand.

"Yeah."

Their moment is interrupted by Lance coming in franticly. Lance takes one look at Ali's pale form in a hospital bed and curses. Loudly. Half the scientist look scandalized while the other half try to stifle their laughter. Even Fitz, who was working on his fine motor skills with little success, cracked a tiny smile. Or maybe it was a grimace.

Ali tries to cover her embossment by yelling: "Dad!" In a lower voice she adds, "I'm okay."

"You got an infection! What did your Mum always say about an open wound?"

Ali rolls her eyes discretely to Skye. "Keep it clean," she mumbles. "But-"

"Keep it clean!" Hunter repeats, cutting her off and going full-on dad.

"Get ready for the lecture," Al mutters.

"And what's this about you running off to join SHIELD? I thought your Mum and I were clear on this. You're not to put yourself in danger like this. Now, I've had a talk with Coulson and he's willing to give you a job here at the base, working in the lab. Bobbi's not going to be happy, but I think I can persuade her to let you take it-"

"No!" Ali says firmly. "I'm going to recover and go back in the field, Dad. We're short on agents as it is. And before you say I can't, I'm going to remind you that I'm not a kid anymore, and you actually can't do anything to stop me."

"You're not a kid? Really? Then why couldn't you change the bandage on your arm by yourself?" Hunter points out.

"It wasn't my fault it got this bad. One of the agents on our team was Hydra. He was switching out my preventative meds, and then my IV."

Skye nods, confirming her story.

"It's okay now, really," Alice promises, her voice slipping into a slight English accent, like the one she had when she was younger during a six-month stay in London. It was funny, it always came out when she was around her dad.

Lance shakes his head, rubbing his temples to disperse the migraine that had come on about five minutes previously when Coulson told him about Ali. "This is not okay, young lady... Your mum is going to kill me."

* * *

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	16. The Calm Before A Storm

Coulson takes Skye and Hunter aside soon after Alice's fight with her father. Phil doesn't want to interfere with their business, but he has to, in order to keep Simmons safe when she eventually goes undercover. Bobbi needs to build her cover, and if she knows Alice was hurt Morse would come running back to base. Not to mention Coulson really is not ready to have _that_ talk with one of his best agents. Who happened to be very lethal. "I don't want either of you to mention this to Bobbi. Not yet."

"Can I ask why, sir?" Lance asks. Skye and Coulson both give him 'May looks'. "Yikes. I'm guessing that's a no then?" They renew their 'Looks'. "Yep, that's a no," Lance mutters.

"Is he still talking?" Coulson asks out of the corner of his mouth.

"Looks like it, sir."

Coulson winces slightly. "Damn. Why isn't this working?"

"You'd need to ask May that, sir."

Hunter looks between them. "You know I can hear you, right?"

Skye and Coulson snap out of it. "Yes," Skye insists.

"Skye, show Hunter around the base then report back to May for training."

"Sure, DC." Skye claps Lance on the shoulder lightly. "Come on, we'll start with the firing range, since you've already seen the lab."

Hunter looks slightly worried, but he leaves with her anyway. Skye wouldn't shoot him…. Right?

* * *

After the 'tour', Lance returns to Alice's area in the medical part of the lab. "Hey, poppet."

"Hi dad. Are you… uh, angry?" Alice asks, trying to figure out the damage.

Lance sighs. "I don't have a problem with you and SHEILD. That's your mother's thing. I was just under the illusion that if you were ever hurt I'd be your first call. You know, after 999."

"It's 911 in the US, dad. And I would have called you. But at first it really wasn't that big a deal and then I was really sick and I couldn't."

Hunter shakes his head. "What's with the hair? Your roots are blonde but the rest is black, except for the green parts… is that 'in'?"

Alice grimaces at the mental picture. "I dyed it… to look less like mom. I had contacts too but I lost them somewhere."

Lance sighs yet again. "You're turning me into an old man, you know that? Yesterday I was twenty… now I'm thirty-nine."

"Forty, actually," Alice corrects him. "Your birthday was last week."

Hunter lets out an exaggerated groan. "Halfway to the grave- "

"-only closer, with your job," Alice finishes the familiar sentence for him. "Our job, now I guess."

"Don't remind me."

"Mom isn't going to kill you, Dad," Alice says, somewhat uncertainly. To be completely honest she was not completely sure that Bobbi would be able to control the direction in which she pointed her batons the next time she saw Hunter.

"No, she's just going to beat me bloody."

"I'm the one who ran off to join SHEILD."

"Then where am I?"

"SHEILD, sure. But Mom was the one who vouched for you," Alice informs him with a small smirk.

Hunter looks hopeful for a moment, then disbelieving. "If she did it was a joke."

Alice throws up her hands, having given up on meddling in her parents' relationship years ago. "Whatever you say."

* * *

*three months later*

"You know, if you're not ready for this we could totally get you your own room," Skye tells Alice as she hands clothes in their wardrobe. "There's two empty ones like, right down the hall."

"I'm fine. Great actually," Alice grins.

"Is your dad?" Skye asks, nodding to the shadow pacing outside the door. "He's been pretty tense lately."

Alice sits down on the bed with a sigh. "I know. Missions are going to be the worst for a while but he'll get used to the idea of us dating. The same thing happened when he found me making out with a boy from Liverpool."

"Oh? Tell me more."

"Well dad supports Manchester United, who are big rivals with Liverpool FC- "

Skye flops down next to her. "You know what, never mind."

Alice laughs. "I know; it's boring as hell."

"No its not, I just have no idea what either of those were. Or are?"

"Are," Alice confirms. "It doesn't matter, really. Just some stupid sports teams."

Skye nods, sitting up. "Have you heard from your mom?"

Alice shakes her head. "No. Last time I talked to her she said she was going undercover. Next thing I know Simmons is undercover."

"You think the two are related?"

"Coulson isn't about to send Simmons in alone. She's badass with a microscope or a Harry Potter reference but horrible at lying."

"Give her more credit than that."

Alice elbows her in the ribs. "I do! But do you remember the HUB incident?"

Skye hisses, trying to control her heartbeat. "Yes. And try not to raise my heart rate too much. May looks at the information on this thing," Skye holds up her watch, "and people draw conclusions."

Alice raises her eyebrows.

"Oh shut up!"

Alice smirks. "I didn't say anything."

Hunter's feet stop and there is a knock at their door. Skye rolls her eyes and gets up to open it immediately.

"YES!" Hunter shouts. "That's fifty bucks, mate," he says, extending a hand in Mack's direction to collect.

"Damn it," Mack curses, getting out a wallet.

Skye sighs, leaning against the doorframe. "Do I even want to know?"

Mack and Hunter look a little guilty. "No."

Alice shakes her head.

Just then May shows up, looking like she has news. "Bobbi just reported Simmons's cover was compromised." She avoids looking at Alice as she leaves.

"Good luck," Mack says, clapping Hunter on the shoulder with one hand and handing his a crumpled fifty with the other. "If he gets killed I want that back," he tells Skye and Alice, grinning as he leaves.

Skye takes the chance to pluck the bill right out of Hunter's hand. "Yeah, good luck with that."

* * *

 **So thanks to AgentsArePansycakeInTheTardis for the prompt and all of you for reading.**

 **Next chapter, the question is answered: Will Bobbi attempt to kill Hunter?**

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	17. The Operation (Mockingbird)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD.**

* * *

"Let's try to keep the family drama to a minimum," Coulson says as Skye and Ali run down the hallway. "Please?" he adds in a very un-director-like way.

May would smirk at him, if she knew how. Sometimes it seems like the only muscles she doesn't use are in her face. "Both of them together," the agent remarks. "Hydra doesn't stand a chance."

"And neither do we," Coulson adds, but he is smiling slightly. Skye was like his daughter in a way, while Alice was the girl next door he'd watched grow up. It was nice to know both of them would be taken care of, if May had to pull the trigger.

Coulson's smile turns into an eye-roll as Hunter and Mack enter, the former looking close to running himself. "Keep it together, Hunter," Coulson orders, trying not to look at May. "Operation Mockingbird, people," he says a lot louder.

Agents turn around and nod before going back to their business.

"Yes, sir." Lance clenches his fists, telling himself to man up.

It does not work for long. As soon as Bobbi walks in with her boss stride, Lance turns and heads for the hills. Coulson, close to groaning, discretely passes May a twenty-dollar bill.

That will teach him to bet on the underdog.

"Agent Morse," Coulson says, looking around for a certain young agent with blue streaks in her hair. His next bet was with Mack, and he was winning so far. "Agent Simmons

"Director."

"Sir." Simmons gets preoccupied with Fitz, leaving Bobbi and Mack to greet each other.

"Back from the dead?"

"Maybe." Bobbi smirks as Mack embraces her. They would talk about the 'real SHIELD' later. Now Bobbi had more pressing matters to deal with. "Have you heard from—"

"This is agent Morse, I like her," Simmons says to another agent. "I like you," she repeats, smiling.

Bobbi, unsure of what to say in response, smiles back. It's usually a safe option for her.

"Trip," the agent introduces himself.

"Bobbi. To both of you," Morse says, shaking his hand. She turns back to Mack. "Any word from—"

"Bobbi," Lance says, inexplicably coming back into the fold. Coulson takes is twenty back. "Alive, are we?"

"So far. Has Ali—"

Lance, like the others, cuts her off. It's starting to become rather worrisome, but they do not allow Bobbi time to think. "What were you thinking, going undercover at _Hydra_?"

Mack steps in quickly before Bobbi can open her mouth. "I know you've got a lot of fighting to do, but maybe you two could take this somewhere else?" He looks pointedly at the assembly of agents.

Bobbi nods.

"Bunks are this way," Lance says, taking off down the corridor. Coulson shakes his head quickly. He is headed in the direction that Skye and Ali went. "I meant this way." Lance turns around sloppily.

"Have you been drinking?" Bobbi can be heard accusing Hunter as they leave.

May shakes her head. "That was close."

Coulson agrees. "We're just giving them some time to do this easily. You know how Bobbi feels about Ali and SHIELD. And I do think it's an actual possibility that Hunter won't make it out of this unscathed."

May does not answer, nor does she show any emotion. She and Coulson walk back to his office, where May locks the door and sets up her camera.

"Yeah, I'm worried too. Imagine the clean-up job," Coulson says, only semi-sarcastically. He loosens his tie, fingers itching to carve.

And, for a time, he forgets about everything else.

* * *

Ali and Skye are not that lucky. After fleeing the scene of Bobbi and Simmons arrival, they ended up down in the gym (part of Operation Mockingbird). And then Bobbi and Hunter migrated their fighting to that exact room and the two barely made it out.

"At least this means we can go back into the world," Ali mumbles. By 'the world' she means everywhere other than the gym, which seems away from everything else sometimes. "Do you think they drank all the beer?"

"Yes," Skye replies honestly, rummaging through the cabinets. "But there's some vodka at the back here."

"Thank god," Ali says, taking the bottle. She cringes, taking a mouthful. "Strong," she gasps.

Skye laughs. "Does it burn?" she asks condescendingly, taking a sip.

"Hey, I'm barely the legal drinking age. I haven't had as much practice as you have."

"Are you telling me that _Lance Hunter_ never gave you a sip of something when you were visiting?" Skye asks disbelievingly.

Ali shakes her head. "You saw how he ran from my mother, right? Even when I could legally drink in Britain, he wouldn't dare."

"Yeah, I guess. You want some water?"

"Please."

Skye gets up to get a glass. "So when are you planning to break the news?"

"Never would be nice."

"Ali…"

"I know, I know. I have to tell her eventually."

"Or tomorrow," Skye prompts.

"Tomorrow. After a drink."

"First thing in the morning."

"After I spar with May."

"Before Tai Chi."

"Fine."

Ali takes a moment to think after the rapid-fire negotiations. "You just handled me didn't you?"

"Like Olivia Pope herself. Now drink your water so we can go to bed, 'kay?"

"Okay."

* * *

"Hi, Mom," Ali says to the mirror. "I work for SHIELD now. Sorry for not telling you. Please don't kill my dad."

"Nice. Straight to the point," Skye says sarcastically. "Now can you stop practicing and actually do it?"

"Right. Yeah. Right."

Ali turns and walks head-on into the door frame.

* * *

Bobbi is walking to the gym when she sees Alice.

They're half carrying her to the lab with a medium-sized cut on her forehead and a lot of whisper-arguing. 'They' being Mack and a young woman Bobbi has never seen before. She is more concerned with figuring out if the cut was bleeding. And why was Ali on the base?

Then Hunter rounds a corner behind them, and Bobbi pounces.

"What did you let her do, Lance Hunter?!" she shouts, pressing her arm into Hunter's neck. His body slams against the wall with a satisfying thump. "What the hell did you let her do?!"

"Oh shit," the woman curses. "Can you take care of this?" she asks Mack.

Mack nods and the girl hurries off with Ali in tow. Bobbi wants to stop them, but she is occupied with holding Hunter against the wall.

"Bobbi, calm down," Mack orders. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Oh, he can breathe," Bobbi snaps. "He's just not trying hard enough!"

Lance continues flailing against the wall. His face is getting red.

"Hey, I knew too. So did a lot of people on this base. You aren't going to choke us all now, are you?" Mack asks.

"No, just Ali's _father._ He's supposed to keep her safe!"

"He didn't know at first either. Not even Coulson knew until Fury put her on the Team."

Bobbi doesn't react.

"What will Ali think if you hurt him? She'll never get over it."

Slowly, Bobbi relaxes her arm until Hunter drops into a heap on the floor.

"Fine. But I'm not done with this."

* * *

 **This was definitely a filler chapter. I realized I needed to set some stuff up for the next chapter, so yeah.**

 **Thanks for everyone who reads and please tell me what you think.**


	18. The Mother

Ali… Ali feels stupid.

Liking _the Phantom Menace_ stupid. Thinking Jar-Jar Binks positively contributed to the Star Wars Universe stupid.

Not telling your parents you decided to join a spy agency _one of them works for_ stupid.

Yeah, she's feeling like an idiot.

"On a scale of one to thinking Darth Vader is 'just a villain', how stupid have I been?" Ali asks Skye as Simmons stiches up her head.

"Seeing as you're back to _Star Wars_ , I'm going to say… liking the midi-clorians explanation stupid."

Alice sucks in a breath sharply. "Fuck."

"Hey!" Mack, Lance and Bobbi say at the same time. Even though Ali was an adult now, none of them much liked the sound of her cursing.

Ali looks up sharply at the sound of her parents' voices. _Shit_.

"Sorry," she says to Simmons, who tuts as Ali yanks out a stich due to the sharp head motion. It hurt, but not enough to divert her attention from the situation at hand.

Bobbi is standing in the doorway, much like Ali imagines Skye would if she wasn't standing in the corner watching it all play out.

Bobbi has her arms crossed, her mom face on, and a sort of 'you're in trouble, missy' aroura coming off of her.

Ali, understandably—she _is_ half Hunter, after all—panics. "Uh… Hi, mom."

Bobbi remains silent.

No one moves. Even Simmons stops stitching up Ali's forehead momentarily. Skye draws a breath in the corner and Mack coughs lightly into a fist.

Finally, the tension becomes so much that Ali just starts laughing. Hard. So, of course, Skye starts laughing, at which point Hunter snorts and Mack's coughing turns into chuckling.

Bobbi stays above the fray. "I don't think this is very _funny_. Do you?" she asks Lance pointedly.

They all stop laughing.

The Brit rubs his neck, which was only just starting to feel normal again. "Uh, no. Ma'am. Bobs. Ma'am. Bobbi."

While he says this, Bobbi alternates between her Mockingbird glares and May looks.

It's hard to tell which one is more terrifying.

"Um… I… um… this is Skye," Ali says unevenly, pointing to Skye, still standing in the corner with a hand over her mouth.

Bobbi relaxes just a bit. "Nice to meet you."

Skye nods, still covering her mouth.

"Are you laughing?"

Skye continues nodding.

Bobbi sighs. "Can I talk to my daughter, please? Alone." It's phrased like a question, but none of them—even Simmons, who is halfway through putting Ali's forehead back together—are foolish enough to take it as such.

Everyone leaves quickly. Simmons hands Bobbi the needle with a fleeting smile, remembering the agent has a biology degree. That was enough to stitch up a forehead, at least in Simmons's book.

Skye glances at Ali, a little worried, and gives her a small wave before hurrying out behind Hunter and Mack.

When everyone else has left, Bobbi sits next to Ali, taking the needle and starting to finish the stiches. "It shouldn't scar… what happened?" Bobbi asks.

"I walked into a doorframe," Alice replies stubbornly.

Bobbi sighs, but doesn't say anything for a beat. "Why didn't you tell me?" she finally asks.

Neither mother nor daughter look at each other as Ali answers. "I didn't think you'd let me."

"Well, I don't think I could have stopped you," Bobbi replies honestly. "But I can fix it, don't worry."

Ali glances at her mother, careful not to move her head. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'll just talk to Coulson, we can get you set up with Simmons…."

"Mom—"

"And if you're worried about Skye I'm sure she'll go back to hacking…."

"Mom—"

"If not I'll keep an eye on her when we're on missions…."

"Mom!" Ali screams. "I'm not working in the lab! And you're not going to make Skye go back to hacking. And no one is 'talking to Coulson'!"

Bobbi ties off the last stitch, careful to keep a lid on her opinions until all pointy objects are out of her reach. "Why? Why are you risking your life? Why are you doing this? Rebellion? Adrenaline? Some kind of identity crisis?" Bobbi's voice gets louder and harsher with each word.

"I could ask you the same thing, Mom!" Ali shouts back at her.

The two women stand at a stalemate until Ali suddenly breaks from the argument and runs out.

* * *

Skye runs her fingers over Ali's forehead, feeling the ridges of her stitches breaking up the smooth skin. "How many?" she asks.

"Seven. But I don't have a concussion, so that's good."

Skye nods. "And Bobbi—?"

"She likes you. Not too sure about me, though. She's probably talking to Coulson right now, telling him to ship me off to… Alaska or something."

"Even if she is, Coulson wouldn't do that." Skye sits up, slowly edging away from Ali.

"What?"

Skye shakes her head. "Don't try to spin this on me, we're talking about you."

"Come on! You disappeared on me back there, and I found you talking to Coulson about something 'Top Secret'. There's something going on, something you're no telling me."

Skye looks away. "It's nothing, we were just talking about Fitz's progress."

"I thought he was doing better with Mack," Ali says concernedly.

"Yeah, well, Coulson's worried that with Simmons back, and with you and Bobbi, it might be a lot for him. He wanted me to be… Mack proxy, in case we ever need it."

Alice nods. "I can help," she offers.

"No, you need to figure things out with your mom. And stop worrying. Now come on, we need to get debriefed."

"A mission?"

"Yup. Ready to say hello to your parents?"

Ali groans, but allows Skye to pull her out of the room.

* * *

Later, Skye goes to Coulson's office again. It's night, as she'd had to wait until Ali was properly asleep to leave their bunk.

"She knows?" Coulson asks.

"No… but she suspects something. I'm not sure what."

Coulson sighs, flexing his fingers absentmindedly.

"Want me to get May?" Skye asks with raised eyebrows.

Shaking his head, Coulson begins rubbing his temples. "No, I'm fine. We can't lose any more time on this."

Skye nods. "And they're the same?"

"Yeah. A lot of overlap, but there's some pieces I was missing. Have you talked to Alice about your father?"

"A little. But nothing for a while now."

"Good. Let's try and keep this between us and May until we have some more answers."

Skye nods. "We'd better find this guy, then. Sebastian Derek. Got a plan?"

"You could say that, yeah. Wanna take Lola for a spin?"


	19. The Mother (Part Two)

The mission is relatively simple, at least in the general concept. Ali, Bobbi, Hunter and May were investigating a lead on Ward. Since May and Ali are the people Ward would be on the lookout for, Bobbi and Hunter are both going in undercover. Through wires, May and Ali will direct them while watching the drama unfold through hacked cameras.

Of course, it could never be that easy.

"I'm taking Hunter," May says immediately, putting on her headset. They are in a random, ambiguously grey van. Apparently, the usual SHIELD black, armored look isn't working anymore.

"Okay," Ali says, even though she has no say in the pairings. She follows May's lead and gets set up at the computer.

There's a kind of methodical solidarity when you're sitting at the console. The world turns into the screen in front of you—nothing else is of any consequence. Nothing else matters.

Ali hates it. She has no idea how Skye used to do this every day; it's too closed-off. Ali joined SHIELD for the thrill of the chase. For the action and the adrenaline. The feeling that you were _doing_ something.

Now, she is back to watching Bobbi do something.

But that doesn't mean she can't be damn good at it.

"He's at your four o'clock," Ali says into the mic, watching her quartered screen carefully. "Heading towards Dad."

Ali watches Bobbi look at the area Ali had directed to carefully; May sees it too. "You have to trust her, Morse," May says into her own mic carefully.

Bobbi doesn't answer; she can't. Ward is coming her way.

Ali feels her chest tighten. Ward had put her in a hospital bed for more than a month. Ward had _kidnapped_ Skye. Ward had lied to them for almost a year, and they had lost so much because of it.

Ward is the reason she is in this situation.

Ali is fine, after a second. She is an agent. Compartmentalizing is about sixty percent of her job. Sixty-five, if you were going to be generous. "6 o'clock, coming towards you."

Bobbi, face partially obscured by the book she was reading, glances up again.

"What are you doing?!" Ali says, as she sees her mother look up once more. "Are you _trying_ to get caught?"

Bobbi stops glancing up and smiling at Ward softly. If it wasn't so _creepy_ , Ali would have applauded her (internally—she refused to admit it out loud) on that quick cover-up. Still, it wouldn't have been necessary if Bobbi would just _trust_ her.

They get on the bus; Ward sits next to Bobbi.

Now, both May _and_ Ali have nothing to do. They can hear what is being said through the COMS, but it's up to Bobbi.

"I saw you looking at me out there; god work. I _almost_ fell for it," Ward says.

Bobbi says nothing.

"Now, if I _didn't_ know who you were, just that you work for Coulson, I would probably let you live."

Bobbi says nothing.

"You look a lot like your daughter, Agent Morse."

There is a pause. Bobbi's breathing gets harder.

Ali watches Ward exit the bus.

Bobbi says nothing.

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, this is really short. But there's plot development..?**

 **Longer chapter next time, definitely. Anyone who's watching the episode tonight: hope you enjoy.**


	20. The Concussion

May and Ali stand at the same time, both reaching for the door handle. Or, at least, Ali assumes that they are both reaching for the door handle because that is all she can think about. Getting out, finding her mother, and figuring out why the hell she isn't saying anything.

She doesn't realize May is trying to keep the door closed on her.

"Agent _Alice_. You're too close to this," May points out. "Let me go find her; you can run surveillance."

"If you don't let me go, May, she's going to be halfway to Texas or wherever that damn bus is going in a minute," Ali replies, trying to force the door open. It won't budge; May is too strong.

May's hand doesn't move. "You're right."

Turning towards the door, Ali feels a sharp pain, and then nothing.

* * *

Ali knows it wasn't a dream, but for a second she wants to believe it was.

She thinks she can see Skye for a moment before her eyes are fully open. She wants to believe that, too, but then the world is coming back and she knows it's May.

"How is she? What happened?" Ali doesn't sit up—she doesn't think she can without passing out.

"Coulson's commissioned a hospital. A good one. Simmons is there, too," May says, perhaps saying more words than Ali has ever heard her say at once. But it doesn't matter, because she says almost nothing of consequence.

"What happened?" Ali asks. "What did Ward do?"

"He stabbed her. Once in the shoulder, once in the chest. That one missed her heart, but it punctured a lung. That's why she couldn't breathe."

Ali nods. "Did you get him?"

May shakes her head. "He was gone."

"He tried to kill her because of me," Ali confesses. "Because I lived, she might die."

May takes her hand, sitting on the edge of the bed. "She isn't going to die. Bobbi is a fighter. And she raised a fighter; one who knows better than to blame herself for something she has nothing to do with."

Ali nods. It hurts her head. "What happened to me?" she asks.

"You hit your head— _again_. I have no idea how you managed to become an agent, but it's been downhill ever since," May says, deadpan.

"You were the one who knocked me out!" Ali protests.

"And it would have gone better if you weren't so damn clumsy," May says sternly. "Now get some rest—no sleeping. You have a concussion."

Grumbling, Ali allows herself to be monitored by the older woman. "Where's Skye?" she asks, looking around the room as if her girlfriend will materialize.

May shakes her head. "Her and Coulson were on a mission together; they're on their way back. Your dad is at the hospital; he wanted to be there in case they needed someone to sign something."

As she says this, Skye bursts into the room, along with Coulson.

"What the hell happened?" Skye asks, staring at a spot on Ali's head. The blonde feels it; it's a bandage.

"Ward," Ali says spitefully. "What about you?" Ali is referencing to the cut on Skye's face, and the layer of dirty covering both her and Coulson.

"We found it," Coulson says frantically. "We found the city."

* * *

 **A/N: Yep, another short chapter. But, hey, they found the alien city thing so... longer stuff is coming.**


	21. The Choice

Ali thinks she would be reflecting on how many days she's spent in hospital beds, if she wasn't busy worrying.

Around her, people are talking and getting ready for the mission. But she isn't going, partially because of the concussion and mainly because the combined forces of Skye and her mother are trying to keep her chained to the base for the rest of her life.

But, hey, she's fine with it. Really. She needs to stay, because her mother is still in critical condition and she should have someone there when she wakes up.

Bobbi is going to wake up.

At least, that's what people keep telling her.

May squeezes her arm, tight. "No sleeping," she reminds Ali sternly.

"What am I supposed to do, then?" She isn't allowed to sleep, or read, or watch TV, or stare at blank walls without being reminded that, no, she isn't supposed to do that.

May is going on the mission, in the capacity that Bobbi would have, if she was okay. She has better things to be doing, but instead she is sitting next to Ali, making sure she doesn't drop dead. "Give me lists. Weapons, foods, people you want to kill."

"Ward. The fuzzy guy who shot Skye. Garrett. The Clairvoyant… aren't they the same person, though? So that's three… um, all those people who tried to kill me. Like, my whole life. Yeah, them."

Holding back a smile, May nods and starts to disassemble her gun. "You talk too much."

"I make _you_ talk too much, you mean," Ali says, grinning. "What's next, assembling your gun?"

" _Your_ gun," May corrects her. "And yes. It'll keep you busy."

Sighing, Ali complies.

* * *

May leaves with the rest of them, and Ali continues to disassemble and reassemble her gun until a doctor comes up to her and says she can sleep now.

She tries, but her mother is in the clear glass pod next to her, so she's busy watching Bobbi's chest rise and fall. She's breathing, and that means Ali can breathe. But she's sleeping, so Ali _can't_ sleep.

It's all very complex, at least for her throbbing, concussed mind.

But what _isn't_ complicated is drifting. So she drifts off into oblivion.

Then she wakes up to someone pulling her off the bed so Skye can use it.

May is dragging her half-awake body out, only Ali blinks once and she is awake again.

"What's happening?" she says. Her voice is somewhere between passive aggressive and scared out of her mind.

They're in her mother's room now, next to Bobbi's still figure. Her chest rises and falls, reminding Ali to do the same.

May is sitting her down in a chair facing away from the Quarantine pod that Ali was previously occupying. "Something happened in the city. She's fine, we just want to make sure whatever it was exits her system."

"Who's dead?" Ali asks next, because whenever something like this happens at SHIELD someone dies in the process.

"Trip."

A quick breath escapes her lips. Trip. Dead. Trip. Dead. "Where's the body?"

May shakes her head.

Trip. Dead. Trip. Dead.

Bobbi is breathing. Ali focuses on that, because it's constant and it will continue on forever. Until Bobbi stops breathing.

She thinks she understands, now, why Bobbi didn't want her to join up. It's too much to put into words, but it's everything about this place. SHIELD. Ali wants to leave. She wants to take Skye and leave and get a house on a field somewhere and have lots of kids and dogs and happiness.

Skye is fine. In the pod next to them. But for how long?

It's a question Ali doesn't want to know the answer to.

"Breathe," May orders her.

Ali opens her mouth, but no air comes out. There isn't any. She inhales instead.

She and May sit in silence until the machines start beeping and the world starts to end.

But, no, it's beginning.

Bobbi's eyes are open. She's alive. A doctor—Simmons—rushes in. She takes out the tube and Bobbi is awake and alive and—and Skye is in the next room, passed out on the bed.

Ali looks between the two, but doesn't move in either direction for a good minute. May doesn't push her in either direction, she knows this has to be her decision.

Then she takes her mother's hand and starts to smile weakly. "Hi, mom. You were right."

* * *

 **A/N: thanks to everyone still reading! This was pretty intense, so I'm going to try to get something a little less so in here soon. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays :)**


	22. The Secret Warriors

_"_ _Hi, Mom. You were right."_

"This is my official resignation," Ali said, dropping a letter on Coulson's desk. "And my badge. And my batons."

Coulson nodded weakly. He knew this was coming, of course. Bobbi had a way with people—that was part of why she was such a good agent. "Where will you go?"

"There's a research company in Florida. I'll be fine."

"I'm sure you will be," Coulson said. "And what about Skye?"

"She'll be fine, too."

* * *

*One year later*

Daisy watches the woman move through a glorified telescope. Her blonde hair has been cut short, like Daisy's, and she's also going by a different name.

 _Andi_. Like mother like daughter, always has been.

She lives alone, hasn't dated in a year. Doesn't have a gym membership but Daisy can see the muscles in her arms tense when she opens the door, so she's been working out somewhere (or she just genetically gifted, which, given Bobbi, isn't at all far-fetched).

Daisy really doesn't have time for this, but she watches Ali enter her apartment before quaking herself to the adjacent rooftop and locating apartment 2D.

The door opens immediately.

"Skye?"

Daisy doesn't spare a second to correct her. "Grab your batons. Coulson needs you."

"Wha—"

"I'll explain on the way. I promise."

Maybe it was something in their history, but Ali listened.

"Let's go, then."

* * *

As Ali's found, retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Having never been truly _normal_ before took its toll. When she first got out into the world, got a job and an apartment and a _life_ , she couldn't cope.

So, she quit that job, moved, cut her hair, and started her own business. Defense classes. Her mother was proud, or at least she sounded proud on the rare occasion she called. Dating's the one thing she isn't quite ready for, yet, but her therapist says that's okay, for now.

Ali wonders what Dr. Fang would say if she knew Ali was about to help a bunch of Inhumans take down a Hydra base and rescue her old boss.

After the round of "We have no idea what the hell we're up against here, but we're going in anyway," Daisy (because she's Daisy now—good for her) jumps out of the damn plane and Ali follows right behind her.

Hey, old habits die hard.

They land on soft ground—it's rained recently, and the dirt has turned to stiff mud. Daisy takes the front, with you and Lincoln right behind her and Elena and Joey behind you.

"Service tunnels are this way." Daisy points forward. "Maybe fifty feet. Be careful, there are guards patrolling the area."

She starts walking, and you are all inclined to follow her.

"Hey," Lincoln says to you. "So, uh, what's your story?"

 _Boyfriend? Maybe?_ Ali smiles. "Just an agent. Bobbi and Hunter's kid, maybe you know them?"

Sparky's lights go on. "Oh, yeah. I—I'm really sorry about what happened to them."

Ali nods. She remembers the last phone call, almost two weeks ago. "Yeah, well. At least they're not dead." Just disavowed. No one in SHIELD will ever contact them again, at least not officially, and not for years.

 _One of the perks of retirement_ , she thinks.

They hurry through the tunnels and on to the building. Daisy wasn't kidding—she really takes care of it.

"That's new," Ali mutters, following Lincoln through the hole Daisy made in the wall.

"You were gone for a while," Daisy replies lightly before barking off their orders.

Somewhere in between her words, Ali sneezes and everyone turns to her. "What? I'm getting over the flu."

"Ok-ay," Daisy says. "Ali, Lincoln, take that hall."

She goes off by herself, sending Elena and Joey to the elevators.

Lincoln and Ali get maybe ten feet before hitting their first Hydra agent.

Ali take him down with her batons while Lincoln hits the next dude with a zap of electricity. She doesn't even realize another one is behind her until he zaps him, too.

Okay, so she was a bit out of practice. "Thanks for that."

Lincoln rolls his shoulders out. "Welcome."

Ali sneezes again, this time in Lincoln's face. "Shit, sorry."

"It's fine. Come on, there's more down here."

They go back to fighting.

* * *

When the mission's over, Ali thinks about flying the Zephyr back to Florida, to writing this one off as a lapse of judgment, to returning to her mundane, normal life.

She thinks about it, but she doesn't.

The truth is, when she's standing around in the locker room, surrounded by agents and Inhumans licking their wounds and training to fight again… hell, it feels like home.

They have each other's backs. That's clear, now.

And, while Elena's recounting what happened in the elevator and Lincoln's thanking Joey, Daisy's laughter sounds like music in her ears.

* * *

When Coulson is done with Malick and has had his meeting with Mack and FitzSimmons, he calls in Ali.

Nothing's changed in his office, or on the base. There are a few more agents, of course, and her parents are gone, but it looks the same. It _feels_ the same.

"How are you?"

"Good. Your hand?"

Coulson takes a second to extend his fingers. "Still feels weird, but I'm getting used to it."

"Can't be easy when your therapist turns into a crazed Inhuman."

"You heard about that?"

"Mom was concerned."

The director sighs. "About that…"

"There wasn't anything you could do, Sir. And they're _okay_. Laying low with Grandma Morse in San Diego."

Chucking, Coulson smiles, relived. "I bet Bobbi loves that."

"She's dealing. Mostly."

"And how's the business?"

Ali shrugs. "I'm getting by. Now… what's this actually about?"

He stands, hands leaning on the desk. "The base is on lockdown. One of the Inhumans is under Hive's control."

Ali has no idea what he's talking about, but she has the feeling she will, soon. Old habits, and all.

* * *

 **A/N: So, it's been a while. But, don't worry-I finished the fic (finally) so I'll be updating daily until it's complete. As always, thanks to you guys for reading and AgentsArePansycakeInTheTardis for prompting this thing. If you've got time, drop me a note and tell em what you think!**


	23. The Mockingbird

There's the Inhumans, then there's her. It's odd, because she's not an Inhuman—Hive can't have gotten her—but she _was_ with the Secret Warriors. Trust, with these new people, it isn't coming any time soon.

Ali stares through the cracked ceiling Daisy left for them, wondering exactly how May was going to pilot them out of here. If she was being optimistic, they'd crash. Pessimistic, they'd crash and kill every SHIELD agent on base.

Ali likes to think of herself as a glass-totally-full kind of girl, but this… this is total next-level bullshit.

In her classes, she told people to stay optimistic, but stay on their feet. Going around assuming everyone was a shit person sucks.

Ali has a feeling life's going to suck for a while, now.

* * *

Coulson offers to drop her off when they stop in California. "Close enough to San Diego—you could go see Bobbi and Hunter."

Ali nods, frowning. "Sir… I know I left her but… I need to make sure Daisy's safe." It's hard for her—for any of them—to feel like this wasn't their fault. Like they couldn't have somehow changed it all.

"I'll call you when we find her," Coulson insists coldly.

That's when Ali realizes this isn't an offer. It's an order.

Of course it is. She left them. She left Daisy, so she doesn't get to find her.

Ali wonders when Daisy became more his family than she was.

"Right. Sir." She sends him a lazy two-fingered salute and leaves. Again.

* * *

Bobbi picks her up in cutoffs and a _Women's March_ t-shirt. Ali immediately feels overdressed in her black jeans and plaid shirt, not to mention shorter and pale and less toned. But younger, too. She thinks she spots a grey hair on her mother's head.

Either way, Morse women are good at hugs. Bobbi's arms are right in the sweet spot between "is this an air hug?" and "I can't breathe".

"What the hell were you thinking?" she asks into Ali's ear, but it isn't harsh.

That's it. Ali cracks. "I'm sorry, Mom."

The ex-agent lets go of her daughter quickly, holding her a couple inches away and looking her over. "Come on," she says after a second. "Let's get coffee."

* * *

It hadn't taken Bobbi Morse long to realize she didn't want to spend the rest of her life stuck in the back of a lab. Like Ali, she'd tried, at first, before leaving to pursue something she was more passionate about.

Hunter hates that she serves coffee, but he didn't complain when they moved into the loft above the store, finally away from Bobbi's mother.

"I'm thinking of buying it," Bobbi discloses, sitting across from her daughter. "The owner's moving to the Bahamas end of year."

"You should. It's a nice place." Ali kicks the air with her feet, always has. It's one of those childish habits Bobbi doesn't _want_ her to grow out of.

"Need a job?" The ex-agent doesn't mean it, not really, but as a mother she's supposed to ask.

Ali shakes her head. "Nah, my place is doing pretty well. You'd be surprised how many women want to know how to protect themselves, these days. I blame Hulu and Margret Attwood."

Bobbi raises an eyebrow. She was sure she'd taught her daughter better than that.

"And the orange in office," Ali adds.

"Nice alliteration," Bobbi says, chuckling.

"I try."

 _Okay. Enough small talk._

Leaning forward, Bobbi puts down her cup. "So, Coulson just left you here?"

"Please don't kill him."

"Actually, I was about to kill _you_ for letting him."

"Mom!" Ali sounds like a moody teen. "He's the director, what am I supposed to do?"

Bobbi smiles. "Find them and fight."

There's a confused pause.

"I thought you didn't want me in SHIELD. After you got hurt like that—"

"Exactly. I went out there, I got hurt, and I kept going until they forced me to stop. And, now I'm done, I see things a little differently."

"Different how?"

Bobbi lets out a deep breath. "Different like… like I see why you need it. _I_ needed it. And why no one should let you when to stop."

Ali blinks. "Okay, that _is_ different. But how am I supposed to find them—"

"Now, if you have to ask me that, you really shouldn't go back." Bobbi smirks, getting up. "Come on, break's over. Time to go." She stands, passing Ali a backpack. "Everything you need is in there. I, uh, had some alterations made."

* * *

Before going, Ali stops in the Coffee House's bathroom to change. The suit is the same one she watched her mother put on every other day of her young life. It's black and blue and grey, with a place for her batons and a holster for her gun.

 _Shit,_ Ali thinks as she looks in the mirror. She looks like the short-haired version of her mother. _I'm the fucking Mockingbird._

 _Cool._


	24. The Inhuman

Ali catches up to SHIELD in a parking lot. She's too late to pick up on any action—they're already in the van when she runs in—but Coulson lets her on. She thinks it's the suit, or maybe the confidence it gives her. For the first time, she understands why her mom was always so… out there about how she felt. The suit had some powers, or something, but Ali felt like she could be the same.

"Had to be sure you weren't going to bail again," Coulson explains, shrugging, as he helps her climb in.

"I won't."

May looks back from the driver's seat. "Good. Where we're going, you won't be able to."

* * *

They're barely back at the base for a minute before they all—including May—load up with weapons and fly out. The older agent doesn't seem so happy about actually carrying a weapon in with her, but Mack insists.

Once they're really flying, they debrief, just like old times. Except, Daisy, FitzSimmons and (thankfully) Ward are missing, and a bunch of new, random agents have joined them.

"As far as we can tell, they're staying here," May points to a red circle on their map. "It's a fully-functional town, as far as we can tell."

"Any clue as to why Hive's got Radcliffe?" Ali asks, crossing her arms.

A new agent—Piper, maybe—steps forward. "Isn't it obvious? Hive's creating more of them. Building himself an army."

There's a moment's silence as everyone thinks about exactly what that would mean. Then Coulson gives them their orders and they get going.

* * *

Daisy fights the Kree and wins. SHIELD fights Daisy and loses.

At the end of the night, all Ali can remember is helping May and the other agents drag Mack's broken body into the Med Pod and watching Hive do the same for Daisy.

The difference: when Daisy looked up, her eyes were empty.

"Are you okay?' May asks.

Ali turns back to Mack's pod. A thousand memories from her childhood are running through her head and she doesn't know how to stop them or how to stop _feeling_. "You should be asking him that."

"You shot your ex. Usually, that'd be cause for celebration but…."

"I'm fine."

Ali really might not be, but saying it helps, anyway.

* * *

Simmons is finishing fixing up Mack when she gets the call. "It's Lincoln."

Ali nods. "I'll take care of him," she says, taking the dressing from the scientist so she can run off. "Might as well put my degree to use."

Mack doesn't laugh.

His eyes stare up at the ceiling blankly. Ali knows from experience their rook isn't as interesting as that, but they are good for focusing and forgetting. She also knows that words are even better.

"Do you remember London?" she asks.

Mack winces as she cleans out his wounds. Then he nods. "How could I forget? You were twelve, had at least that many guns pointed at you."

"I thought I was going to die. I thought we all were." She pauses. It isn't a happy memory, but it's an important one. "Then we didn't, and you know why?"

"Your mother's batons, as I remember."

Ali laughs and puts a bandage over his gut wound. "No, actually. It's because you stalled. You started talking about something or other—I can't remember, all I could hear was my heart in my chest—and it worked. They left us alone long enough for Mom to work her magic." Ali snaps off her gloves. She's finished.

"Okay, so how's this supposed to help?"

Ali smiles weakly. "It's not. Nothing will. I was just stalling."

* * *

Lincoln dies about an hour after they get back to base.

Apparently, Simmons had some kind of immune-system zapping antitoxin that Lincoln had stupidly shot himself up with. Unbeknownst to, well, everyone, was that he was still in the asymptomatic stage of the flu.

That changed pretty quickly.

By the time they got back, Simmons had already revived him twice. The third time, after Simmons got that call… he didn't come back.

That's how the three remaining Bus Kids ended up standing around the table, drinking to him, but mostly talking.

Simmons is guilty. "I don't know how it got past the protocols—"

Fitz is trying to console her. "There's no way you could have stopped it—"

Ali knows where he got it from. "I sneezed on him when we were rescuing you guys—"

This goes on for a few minutes before someone tells them no more.

"Stop." It's Mack, standing in the doorway with Elena at his side. "None of us could've stopped this. It was his decision to go against Coulson's orders. And none of you are helping by, what, getting yourselves drunk? No. We keep going. This is SHIELD."

He's right, and they know he's right.

The rest of the beer goes down the drain.

* * *

 **A/N: One more chapter, guys. Hope you're enjoying this!**


	25. The Fallen Agent

The end comes slowly, like a movie playing at half-speed. Ali can see what's happening and where it's heading, but she's completely powerless to stop it.

Hell, watching Daisy tear herself apart, knowing she's going to stop her, Ali isn't even sure she wants to.

* * *

*twelve hours earlier*

They got Daisy back. They got Daisy back and locked her in a cell. They got Daisy back, locked her in a cell, and asked her what she knew.

They tried not to blame her when the answer turned out to be _not much_.

Ali only visits when she knows the hacker is sleeping. For the former agent, it's easier not to watch the dead look in her eyes become more pronounced with every word spoken, every breath she takes. It's almost ironic, in a twisted way, that it was Lash who freed her. When Garner changed over permanently, SHIELD lost their go-to shrink.

When the others visit, it's in the hours Daisy is awake. Those have become more and less frequent since they got her back, and since the transfusion Simmons gave her on the second night. Her pallor is still deathly, but it's a little less so than when she got back. They tell her of the mission, that her Secret Warriors are going to stop Hive enslaving the whole of Europe, but they also explain his effects.

They tell her it isn't her fault, but Ali and everyone else can see she doesn't believe them.

Choosing to see it, though… that's a different story.

(They don't tell her about Lincoln, not yet. Everyone is too afraid of what Daisy may do when she does find out to actually test their theories.)

* * *

When the group returns with their Hive-in-a-box, Ali dares to hope it's over. Mack is still healing—he really shouldn't have gone in, in the first place—but he and the rest don't have any new injuries by some miracle.

To be honest, the whole orange-jell thing freaks Ali out. She's staring at Hive's outstretched hand when Coulson explains it _isn't_ over, that the missile is still in play.

Of course. Because they couldn't—not _once_ —get an easy break.

While Mack is breaking protocols trying to talk to Daisy, Ali is working with FitzSimmons and Radcliffe. Still, she watches as Daisy fights the embrace, wondering why she couldn't bring herself to go in there.

She's still wondering (and working) when the alarms start. Somewhere in the middle of it, Fitz had left and ended up in the hangar, where the primitives were. They manage to get him out in time, but just barely.

Then, for Simmons and her, it's a countdown. How long can Hive hold the hangar? How long will he stay? How long until the primitives get through the pipes? How long will Simmons and Ali be stuck hiding in the dark?

"They can't see very well," Simmons reminds the former agent before the last strike.

She's going to go on, but the door slams open and two primitives come in. A second passes and Ali can feel the first's hot breath on her face. She turns away, and doesn't get up until long after Simmons's body left her side.

"Info-red. They see using heat signatures!" the Brit exclaims, running around and turning up the heat.

Ali nods, shaking her head and getting up. It gets a lot hotter, fast. "Let's go. Just because they can't see doesn't mean they won't be back."

They leave, sneaking down the hallway and into the first fortified room they find: Coulson's office. Soon enough, the rest show up and they leave to set up their little plan.

* * *

Hive falls for fake!Coulson instantly, and they descend on the plane.

Ali is the first down, the first to meet Hellfire, the first to get hurt. He touches something on the way down, throws it at her, and the next thing Ali remembers is pain.

Pain.

Then Simmons is patching her up and Daisy is saying how sorry she is (there is a question behind her eyes, _Lincoln?_ , but she doesn't voice it).

Then she's talking about the plan, playing with that damned cross around her neck, and Ali knows what she's thinking.

"No. You're not doing this. Not to them, not to me, not to yourself. Trying to… make up for something you couldn't have stopped? That's just stupid. And reckless. And you don't get to kill yourself for this."

She can see before the first word exits her mouth that Daisy has made up her mind.

Still, the former agent knows she's going to stop this.

When Daisy and the rest are gone, when she's alone, Ali get up and starts walking onto the quinjet.

Pain. More pain. So. Much. Fricking. Pain.

Her legs drag, her breath comes hard and she can feel the sweat dripping off her nose. It tastes salty and metallic at the same time, and Ali's confused until she realizes it's part blood, as well.

She thinks she would still die, most likely, even if she didn't do this. Maybe not if she hadn't decided to run to the damned quinjet in the first place, but there's no going back now. She can feel the blood staining both her Mom's suit and the SHIELD jacket they'd put on her after the thing exploded.

When she removes her hand from the wound, it stains even the necklace Ali had stolen from around Daisy's neck.

When she realizes her ex's plan, the inhuman is dead-set against it, of course. But that's okay. Ali had grown up the daughter of a SHIELD agent and a mercenary, and she knows how to mess with a car's (or any vehicle, really) hardware.

The manual controls are fiddled with easily, and it isn't long before they're broken, Hive won't be able to steer the thing.

No one will.

The one thing Ali regrets about it all is not being able to say goodbye. In the process of cutting the manual control wires, she'd gutted the COMs. So, no last words for her. Not to her mom, or her dad, or Coulson, or Daisy. Not to May or Fury or Maria Hill. Not to Daisy.

Hell, why did she keep thinking about a girl? Story of her life, even in death.

But she has to get the doors closed before Daisy can get back on, and while Hive is still aboard. Ali doesn't get even as much as a wave before they are gone, shot into the air never to return. Her hands are too busy with the wires.

That's okay, though. She doesn't really have anything to say.

* * *

Space is….

Space is….

Space is wonderful. It's full and packed and new and shiny.

Space is lonely. It's empty and separated and ancient and crumbling.

Ali and Hive get to see a few of the sights before they go up in flames. The moon. The Earth. The sun. She can tell Hive wants to discuss some kind of existential crisis with her, but she'd rather just watch.

In the end, though, it's nice not to be alone.

"Mom was right. Mom's always right."

Ali goes out with a bang _and_ a whisper.

* * *

Some people are the center of everything, others play a minor part in larger events. Some people will kill a comrade (unintentionally) only to take their fate, others carve out their own destinies. Some people leave their mark, others leave footprints so shallow they'll be washed away by the lightest of waves.

The extent to which a person's life changes those around them is only up to them. But, to the world? Well, Ali used to think that was up to the universe.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks to all of you who've stuck with this fic since the beginning. I know it's definitely taken some turns since then, but we're here now. The end.**

 **I know it's kind of abrupt, hopefully kind of unexpected. When this started, I didn't intend to end it this way, but the way things can change with the addition of only one person was always going to play a role in it. Eventually, that morphed into the way things are "supposed to be" and how everything could, theoretically end the same way they did in the show.  
**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this fic, I know I did. Have a good summer!**


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